English

Verb

to give away ‎(third-person singular simple present gives away, present participle giving away, simple past gave away, past participle given away)

1. (transitive) To make a gift of (something).

   I didn't like that book, so I gave it away.

2. (transitive) To relinquish control over.
   • 2010 September, Stephen Schenkenberg, "Many Big Ideas, One Big Transition", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 16:

     This issue marks a first of its kind for St. Louis Magazine: We've given away our cover feature. […] In early summer, our editors […] posed a collective question: What if we asked some […] citizens what the future should look like? We'll give each of them […] 200 words of space in the magazine […] .

     It was a risk: Editors like to control magazine content […] .

3. (transitive) To formally hand over a bride to the bridegroom; often by her father.

   Who giveth away this woman to this man in Holy matrimony?

4. (reflexive, transitive) To unintentionally reveal a secret, or expose someone.

   He gave himself away with a stupid lie.

   He gave away his hiding place when he accidentally sneezed.

5. (transitive) To concede an advantage in weight, time, height etc.

   Despite giving away twenty pounds in weight, the challenger found a knock-out blow in the second round.

6. (sports) to concede
   • 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport:

     England gave away six penalties in the first 15 minutes and were lucky to still have 15 men on the pitch, but Kvirikashvili missed two very makeable penalties in quick succession as Georgia were unable to take advantage of significant territorial advantage.

Derived terms

• give away the store

Translations

Usage notes

In all senses the object may appear before or after the particle. If the object is a pronoun, then it must be before the particle.

See also

• giveaway