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throw up the sponge. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
throw up the sponge, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
throw up the sponge in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From a custom of the boxing ring, the person employed to sponge a pugilist between rounds throwing his sponge in the air in token of defeat.
Pronunciation
Verb
throw up the sponge (third-person singular simple present throws up the sponge, present participle throwing up the sponge, simple past threw up the sponge, past participle thrown up the sponge)
- (intransitive, idiomatic, slang, archaic) To give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; to throw in the towel.
1870, James Russell Lowell, “Lessing”, in Among My Books, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 330:But he was too brave a man to throw up the sponge to fate, and had work to do yet.