throw up the sponge
verbEtymology
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.
Definitions
To give up a contest
To give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; to throw in the towel.
- But he was too brave a man to throw up the sponge to fate, and had work to do yet.
- At a time when official railway operators throw up the sponge for much less reason, it seems that only voluntary enthusiasm would ever contemplate the task at all.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for throw up the sponge. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA