give
Forms
- present (v1)
- give
- past (v2)
- gave
- past participle (v3)
- given
- present participle
- giving
- 3rd person singular
- gives
- Plural
- gives
Definitions
1.To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.
- Please give me some more time.
- When they asked, I gave my coat.
- I'd like to give the tire a kick.
2.To provide, as, a service or a broadcast.
- He gives good face too, posing for the camera with hands on waist, eyes forward, legs crossed (Fig. 4.1).
- A friendly voice on the phone welcoming prospective new clients is a must. Don't underestimate the importance of giving good "phone".
- They're giving my favorite show!
3.To estimate or predict (a duration or probability) for (something).
- I'd give it a 95% chance of success.
- I'll give their marriage six months.
- I give it ten minutes before he gives up.
4.To yield or collapse under pressure or force.
- A soldier noticed how earth "gave" as he walked over the shallow trenches.
- One pillar gave, then more, and suddenly the whole floor pancaked onto the floor below.
1.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.Alternative form of gyve.
Frequency
Overall
Very common· #98
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Very common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English given, yeven, yiven, ȝiven, from merger of Old English ġefan, ġeofan, ġiefan, ġifan, ġiofan, ġyfan (“to give”) and Old Norse gefa (“to give”), from Proto-Germanic *gebaną (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰebʰ- (“to give; to take”). Displaced yive, from Middle English yiven, of the same origin, from influence of Old Norse gefa.