give over

verb

gave over; given over; giving over; gives over

transitive verb

1

: cease

2

: entrust

3

a

: to yield without restraint or control : abandon

gave themselves over to laughter

b

: to set apart for a particular purpose or use

4

archaic : to pronounce incurable

intransitive verb

British : to cease an activity : stop

told him to give over and let me alone

—Brendan Behan

Synonyms

• break
• break off
• break up
• can [slang]
• cease
• cut off
• cut out
• desist (from)
• discontinue
• drop
• end
• halt
• knock off
• lay off
• leave off
• pack (up or in)
• quit
• shut off
• stop

Examples of give over in a Sentence

his wife suggested that he give over working such long hours if it was making him so unhappy

gave over his entire savings to an investor

Recent Examples on the Web

Everyone just gave over their email and password and stuff. —Glenn Garner, Deadline, 3 Nov. 2024

Only nine of his top 100 donors were from California, giving over $8 million combined, or just 5% of the $161 million haul from his largest givers. —Ben Poston, Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct. 2024

There is so much of the city that has given over to the wicked history of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. —Shannon Carlin, Rolling Stone, 31 Oct. 2024

Surrounded by Corylus trees and mountain streams, Adem’s childhood was one that saw his entire family work on a 150 acre farm, much of it given over to hazelnut trees (some 4.8m in fact). —Angelina Villa-Clarke, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1