throw in the towel

From the traditional signal from a boxer's support staff of throwing such an item into a boxing ring to indicate that the contestant cannot continue the match and is forfeiting to the opponent.

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throw in the towel (third-person singular simple present throws in the towel, present participle throwing in the towel, simple past threw in the towel, past participle thrown in the towel)

1. (idiomatic) To quit; to give up.

   If their restaurant can't get business even on Mother's Day, it might be time for them to throw in the towel.

   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII:

     In short, there was so much space and so many things to shove things behind that most people, called on to find a silver cow-creamer there, would have said “Oh, what's the use?” and thrown in the towel.

   • 2024 July 10, Christian Wolmar, “The future of the rail franchises is certainly uncertain”, in RAIL, number 1013, page 50:

     One key imponderable is the attitude of the companies that will no longer have a role in the business. It is worth noting here that several have already thrown the towel in or been gently pushed out, such as Stagecoach and National Express.

• throw in the cards
• throw in the sponge
• throw up one's hands
• throw up the sponge

• throw to the dogs
• throw to the wolves