Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to give up, esp. of a job.

1889		J.K. Jerome Three Men in a Boat 314: I think we did well to chuck it when we did.
1893		P.H. Emerson Signor Lippo 12: Chuck it, we’ll go and have a bit of mungarley now.
1894		Kilmore free Press 1 Feb. 1/2: My cook [...] had told me that he was going to ‘chuck it up,’ by which he meant he was going to leave.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 5 May 6/4: ‘Go on, Bill, it’s any odds on you.’ ‘Is it,’ replied Bill, ‘Right, I’ll chuck it [i.e. a fist-fight] while I’m still the favourite’.
1897		Boy’s Own Paper 13 Nov. 107: I tell myself I might as well chuck it up as a bad job.
1900		Sporting Times 31 Mar. 1/3: But I ain’t a-goin’ to break the rules o’ my union for nobody, an’ rule number seventeen distinctly says, ‘As soon as you starts a-sweatin’, chuck it!’.
1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 12 June 1/2: When a body of men that are set aside to adjudicate on crook running canot discern such a paltry stiff ’un [...] then it is time for punters to ‘chuck it’.
1908		S. Ford Side-stepping with Shorty 22: I’ve worked up a grouch against this job durin’ the last few minutes. I guess I’ll chuck it up.
1910		Marvel 15 Oct. 12: You’d better chuck it now, before I kill you.
1911		E.B. Morris Sophomore 7: All. Come off. Chuck it. Pull down your vest.
1912		P.C. Wren Dew & Mildew 245: ‘’Ere, chuck it, old ’un!’.
1925		J. Tully Beggars of Life 3: I explained my work and wages to the boy, who smiled at me disdainfully [...] ‘Chuck it, Kid, chuck it. Gosh you can’t do no worse.’.
1930		N. Lindsay Redheap (1965) 56: ‘Why the blazes don’t they chuck it?’.
1938		J.B. Booth Sporting Times 246: Why on earth don’t you chuck it, an’ clear out?
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 106: Why don’t you chuck it in?
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 84: The fact that I’d chucked it in gave me a new lease of life.
1955		Picture Post 15 Jan. 45: [advert for Horlicks] And they call me an author! But I’m getting nowhere with this novel – I’m chucking it.
1962		B. McGhee Cut and Run (1963) 31: No more blows were necessary, for Hood had ‘chucked it’. Lying there, sprawled among the sawdust, he was crying.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 97: Someone sent by God to tell me to chuck it all in.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 201: Why does a feller earning a handsome salary in the American State Department decide to chuck it all and join a bomb factory?
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 28/1: chuck in/chuck it in to resign or leave a job.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

2. (Aus. Und.) for a gambler to leave the game, usu. after a big win.

1932

New Call (Perth, WA) 7 Apr. 3/4: When one of these ultra-respectable citizens [...] has a decent win, and desires to ‘chuck it,’ he is guaranteed safe conduct [...] nobody must leave, and a taxi is secured to convey him to his home.

3. (US campus) to commit suicide.

1967–8

Baker et al. CUSS.