gift
//ɡɪft//
Forms
- Plural
- gifts
- present (v1)
- gift
- past (v2)
- gifted
- past participle (v3)
- gifted
- present participle
- gifting
- 3rd person singular
- gifts
Definitions
1.Something given to another voluntarily, without charge.
- She gave him a cell phone as a birthday gift.
- She bought the model as a surprise gift for a friend who is a lifelong HST fan and railwayman, and who will soon be celebrating a milestone birthday.
2.A talent or natural ability.
- She had a gift for playing the flute.
3.Something gained incidentally, without effort.
- She was pleased with the gift.
- Somebody sent us a gift.
4.The act, right, or power of giving or bestowing.
- The office is in the gift of the President.
1.To give away, to concede easily.
- Chelsea threw away two points when substitute Salomon Kalou gifted Valencia a penalty five minutes from time with a needless handball.
- They drove on, every rise in the road lifting their sightline clear of the drystone dykes along the roadside, gifting glimpses of the firth and the islands, the blue peaks of Arran.
2.To give as a gift or donation.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1338
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English yifte, ȝift, partly from Old English ġift, ġyft (“giving, consideration, dowry, wedding”) and Old Norse gipt (“gift, present, wedding”); both from Proto-Germanic *giftiz (“gift”). Equivalent to give + -t (etymologically yive + -t).
Cognates