/ˈθɹəʊ ɪn ðə ˈtaʊəl/
English idiom, informal. To give up and admit defeat.
Draft Not yet checked by a native English speaker.
How do people use Throw in the towel
?
Informal but used everywhere, from chat to newspaper headlines. It means stopping after a long fight or effort, so it fits a business closing, a team giving up, or you quitting a hard task: “I’m throwing in the towel.” The past is “threw in the towel”.
Also said throw the towel in, throw in the sponge
Throw in the towel
in real sentences
-
Don’t throw in the towel.
Tatoeba, sentence by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
-
Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel.
Tatoeba, sentence by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Throw in the towel
come from?
This comes from boxing, where a fighter’s corner throws a towel into the ring to stop the fight. Phrase Finder says the gesture was first done with a sponge (recorded from 1845) and that the towel turns up in 1904, citing Green’s Dictionary of Slang and an Australian newspaper. A figurative use outside boxing appears in C. J. Dennis’s The Moods of Ginger Mick (1916): “I’ve done me limit, an’ tossed in the tow’l.”
Mistakes learners make with Throw in the towel
Learners say “throw the towel” without “in”, which sounds like you’re tossing laundry. Keep “in”: “throw in the towel” or “throw the towel in”.
Other English idioms like Throw in the towel
Spot a mistake in Throw in the towel
?
Send a correction, or a sentence you’d actually say with it. Everything is read before anything on this page changes.