Definition of Chuck up the sponge

1. Verb. Give up in the face of defeat of lacking hope; admit defeat. "In the second round, the challenger gave up"


Lexicographical Neighbors of Chuck Up The Sponge

chubsucker
chubsuckers
chuchotage
chuck
chuck-full
chuck-will's-widow
chuck a dummy
chuck away
chuck in
chuck it down
chuck out
chuck short ribs
chuck steak
chuck steaks
chuck up
chuck up the sponge (current term)
chuck wagon
chuckawalla
chuckawallas
chucked
chucked up
chucker
chucker-out
chuckers
chuckey
chuckeys
chuckhole
chuckholes
chuckie

Literary usage of Chuck up the sponge

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary, Historical and by John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley (1891)
"1889. Sporting Times [quoted in Slang, Jargon, ana Cant}. And I shall I.KT тик blooming CHUCK as well as fourteen days. chuck up the sponge.—See SPONGE. ..."

2. The Works of A. Conan Doyle by Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)
"All his own fights put together had never reduced the pugilist to such a state of agitation. “Wait on ‘im yourself, then, and chuck up the sponge when ..."

3. The English Illustrated Magazine (1887)
"A than said, " What's your move now t You've copped me and I chuck up the sponge and come quiet, but hands off or " " Don't be a fool, Slack," said I, ..."

4. The Nineteenth Century (1891)
"... as a part of the force available for the defence of England, and the theory that if an enemy once lands on our shores we may ' chuck up the sponge' has ..."

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