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Great Expectations vocabulary
9 archaic vocabulary words
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throw up the sponge
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tags: [archaic] [idiom] [rare]
► definition
Definition:(archaic, slang) To give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; throw in the towel.text from Wiktionary, licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike
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Uses:
everybody bending a little forwards and gazing at him. Says I to myself, now he'll throw up the sponge—there ain't no more use. Well, did he? A body can't hardly believe it, but he didn't.
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he got up and turned round and round confusedly a few times, not knowing where I was; but finally went on his knees to his sponge and threw it up: at the same time panting out, "That means you have won."
Charles Dickens. Great Expectations (1861)
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