give up

phrasal verb
Word forms "give up":
present tense I/you/we/they give up he/she/it gives up present participle giving up past tense gave up past participle given up

1) [transitive] to stop doing something that you do regularly

His wife finally persuaded him to give up smoking.

Giving up his job was the last thing we expected him to do.

a) [transitive] to stop thinking or believing something

It was a difficult time, but we never gave up hope.

give up the idea of something (= to no longer want to do something):

He had given up the idea of marriage altogether.

b) [intransitive/transitive] to stop doing something that you are trying hard to do

We've given up trying to persuade them to change.

Decide what you want and then don't give up until you've achieved it.

2)

a) [transitive] to allow someone to have something that was yours

The new arrangement would mean giving up some of their political independence.

give up to:

They agreed to give half their office up to the temporary staff.

b) to use your time for one activity instead of another

Doing this course will mean giving up a lot of my spare time.

3) [transitive] if you give yourself up, you allow yourself to be arrested by the police

4) [transitive] if you give something up as lost, you believe that you will not find it and you stop looking for it

give someone up for dead:

The men who were still in the boat had given him up for dead.