English

Verb

acknowledge the corn

1. (idiomatic) To acknowledge defeat or admit to a mistake; to cop a plea; to admit to a small error but not a larger one.
   • 1859, J. Underwood, letter to the editor, Samuel W. Cole (editor), The New England Farmer, Volume 11,

     I should like to take a job of that kind on a wager with him, or any other New Hampshire man, and if I did not come out a little ahead on the "home stretch," why then I would "acknowledge the corn," and own myself beaten.

   • 1880, Parliament of Canada, Official report of the debates of the House of Commons of the Dominion of Canada‎,

     Will the hon. gentleman acknowledge the corn? He does not do it. He is non-committal.

   • 1892, The American magazine‎,

     They had simply to "acknowledge the corn," round up, and — "vamoose"; then, so soon as the soldiers had gone back to the fort, there was no law to prevent their returning.

See also

• concessio
• concession
• paromologia
• paromology