Phrasal Verbs
to stop trying to do something They gave up without a fight. She doesn't give up easily. I give up—tell me the answer.
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- 1(also give up on somebody) to believe that someone is never going to arrive, get better, be found, etc. We hadn't heard from him for so long, we'd given him up for dead. There you are at last! We'd given up on you.
- 2to stop having a relationship with someone Why don't you give him up?
- 1[no passive] to stop doing or having something We'd given up hope of ever having children. give up doing something You ought to give up smoking.
- 2to spend time on a task that you would normally spend on something else I gave up my weekend to help him paint his apartment.
to hand something over to someone else We had to give our passports up to the authorities. He gave up his seat to a pregnant woman (= stood up to allow her to sit down).
to offer yourself/someone to be captured After a week on the run he gave himself up to the police.