Throw in the towel
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
To give up or surrender after effort fails, admitting defeat with a gesture of finality.
Origin
From 19th-century boxing, where a trainer threw a towel into the ring to halt a match-saving a battered fighter. A 1910 'New York Times' report notes it, and by the 1920s, it spread beyond sports, as in a 1921 story of abandoning a plan. It reflects a gritty sport's mercy rule, growing into a universal idiom for bowing out, rooted in physical surrender turned symbolic.
Variants
- Throw the towel
- In the towel
Usage Examples
- After hours of arguing, he threw in the towel.
- She threw in the towel on that impossible puzzle.
- They threw in the towel when funding dried up.
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