give

verb

1. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

   “I gave him my coat.”

   “I gave my coat to the beggar.”

   “When they asked, I gave my coat.”

2. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

   “I'm going to give my wife a necklace for her birthday.”

   “She gave a pair of shoes to her husband for their anniversary.”

3. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

   “I gave him my word that I'd protect his children.”

4. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

   “I gave them permission to miss tomorrow's class.”

   “Please give me some more time.”

5. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

   “It gives me a lot of pleasure to be here tonight.”

   “The fence gave me an electric shock.”

   “My mother-in-law gives me nothing but grief.”

   “it's giving me bad vibes — It's giving me old Hollywood (vibes)”

   “"The outfit is giving me eighties fitness video vibes, but you wear it well."”

6. (ditransitive, slang, transitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

   “it's giving old Hollywood (vibes)”

   “Stop texting me! It's giving "desperate", honestly.”

   “[subtitle:] It's giving Wednesday Addams at the salon...”

   “It's giving old Hollywood”

   “Your outfit is giving more romance than bloodshed. Are you currently in love?”

7. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

   “I want to give you a kiss and a hug.”

   “As mom gave us a long look, I gave a sigh and my sister gave a laugh.”

   “I'd like to give the tire a kick.”

   “I gave the boy a push on the swing.”

   “She gave me a wink afterwards, so I knew she was joking.”

8. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

   “Give me your hand.”

   “On entering the house, he gave his coat to the doorman.”

9. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

   “My boyfriend gave me chlamydia.”

   “He was convinced that it was his alcoholism that gave him cancer.”

   “Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.”

10. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

    “The doctors gave me morphine for the pain.”

11. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

    “Playing for us tonight, I give you The Beatles!”

    “Ladies and gentlemen of Rotary, I give you our president, Bill Robbins.”

    “"Ladies and gentlemen... I give you... 'The Beatles'!..." announced Ed Sullivan above the screaming fans.”

12. (ditransitive)To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.

    “On this happy evening, I give you the bride and groom!”

    “"I give you the bride: the new Baroness of Kilshane. May her life with her bold new baron be long and happy and fruitful." He lifted his cup. "To the bride!"”

    “CORTEZ (raising whiskey glass) I give you President Lyndon Johnson. ONO: You can keep him. (They all knock back the whiskey, slam down the glasses. SAM pours again.)”

    “"Sir Thomas," Malone said, "I give you Her Majesty, the Queen!" "To the Queen!" Boyd echoed. They downed their drinks and turned, as one man, to hurl the glasses into the wastebasket.”

13. (transitive)To provide, as, a service or a broadcast.

    “They're giving my favorite show!”

    “We hope that the need to "give good e-mail" in response to questions from clients and potential clients will in fact induce firms to get serious about storing and reusing their expertise – and even become open to tailoring […]”

    “[…]who did not have a culture in which 'giving good presentation' and successfully playing the internal political game was the way up.”

    “A friendly voice on the phone welcoming prospective new clients is a must. Don't underestimate the importance of giving good "phone".”

    “Social skills are required to meet new people in a chat room and maintain contact over time (“Do you give good e-mail?”). The Internet provides people with an opportunity to reinvent or misrepresent themselves.”

14. (ditransitive)To estimate or predict (a duration or probability) for (something).

    “I give it ten minutes before he gives up.”

    “I'd give it a 95% chance of success.”

    “I'll give their marriage six months.”

15. (intransitive)To yield or collapse under pressure or force.

    “One pillar gave, then more, and suddenly the whole floor pancaked onto the floor below.”

    “A soldier noticed how earth "gave" as he walked over the shallow trenches.”

16. (intransitive)To lead (onto or into).

    “The master bedroom gives onto a spacious balcony.”

    “Beyond the stile stands an attractive row of riverside trees – alder, hazel, beech, hawthorn and ash. Go across to the far corner of a field, where a through-stile gives onto a small, lightly wooded hill,[…]”

17. (dated, transitive)To provide a view of.

    “His window gave the park.”

    “Columbus dwellers of Woodland Meadow Apts may not find themselves in a perfectly bucolic setting, as the residential complex gives onto a military defense logistics ground.”

18. To exhibit as a product or result; to produce; to yield.

    “The number of men, divided by the number of ships, gives four hundred to each ship.”

19. To cause; to make; used with the infinitive.

    “But there the duke was given to understand / That in a gondola were seen together / Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica.”

20. To cause (someone) to have; produce in (someone); effectuate.

    “"Can do" gives me a choice, while "should do" gives me a complex.”

21. To allow or admit by way of supposition; to concede.

    “He can be bad-tempered, I'll give you that, but he's a hard worker.”

    “I give not heaven for lost.”

22. To attribute; to assign; to adjudge.

    “I don't wonder at people giving him to me for a lover.”

23. To communicate or announce (advice, tidings, etc.); to pronounce or utter (an opinion, a judgment, a shout, etc.).

    “The umpire finally gave his decision: the ball was out.”

24. (dated)To grant power, permission, destiny, etc. (especially to a person); to allot; to allow.

    “These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.”

    “once again 'Tis given me to behold my friend.”

    “Then give thy friend to shed the sacred wine.”

25. (reflexive)To devote or apply (oneself).

    “The soldiers give themselves to plunder.”

    “That boy is given to fits of bad temper.”

26. (obsolete)To become soft or moist.

    “Some moyst weather hath‥caused the powder to give and danke.”

27. (obsolete)To shed tears; to weep.

    “Whose eyes do never give / But through lust and laughter.”

28. (obsolete)To have a misgiving.

    “My mind gives ye're reserv'd / To rob poor market women.”

noun

1. (uncountable)The amount of bending that something undergoes when a force is applied to it; a tendency to yield under pressure; resilience.

   “This chair doesn't have much give.”

   “There is no give in his dogmatic religious beliefs.”

   “The striker's job was onerous, too, because there was so little "give" in the metal, and the perpetual jarring was indeed trying to the muscles.”

2. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of gyve.