verb
Etymology: Middle English given up, from given to give + up
transitive verb
1. : to hand over to or as if to another : relinquish , surrender
the death of his wife a few years later caused him to give up his … home — J.M.Phalen
things went from bad to worse until finally he had to give up his position — Scott Fitzgerald
2. : to breathe forth : emit — now used especially in the phrase give up the ghost
3. obsolete : to deliver verbally : present
how he may be brought to give up the clearest evidence — Francis Atterbury
4. : to have done with : desist from : forsake , sacrifice
men will never give up seeking to influence one another — R.M.Weaver
you wouldn't give up science or your career — Susan Ertz
gave the idea up in sheer weariness — T.B.Costain
5.
a. : to yield (oneself) to a particular feeling, influence, or activity : abandon
gave himself up completely to despair
shutting himself away from the world and giving himself up to writing his novel — Edmund Wilson
b. : to set apart or devote to a particular purpose or use — usually used in passive
Mondays and Tuesdays were often given up to drink, cockfights, bearbaiting — J.H.Plumb
6. : to declare incurable or insoluble
the patient was given up by the doctors
couldn't answer the riddle and so gave it up
7.
a. : to make public : reveal
we do not give up the names of our contributors — Lippincott's Magazine
b. : to make known (the name of a principal) in the process of completing a transaction on a stock exchange
8. : to despair of seeing
it's so late we gave you up — Charles Dickens
intransitive verb
: to withdraw from an activity or course of action often as an admission of failure : stop
had lost flies and broken leaders until he had given up — Alexander MacDonald
doctor tried to get your father to give up for a while — Ellen Glasgow