Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus./US Und.) to betray, to inform against.

1835		Morning Herald (N.Y.) 29 July 2/1: [A supposed runaway slave is betrayed to the authorities.] On Monday evening, a colored man named Liderton Dixon [...] was pointed out as the man who had given him up.
1886		Eve. News (Sydney) 27 Apr. 7/3: No inducement could lead me to give up my friends, dishonest as they were.
1904		‘Number 1500’ Life In Sing Sing 255: Giving Up. giving information.
1912		Van Loan ‘A Rain Check’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 335: They got Mayhew soused and he gave up.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 419: Squeal. To talk, tell, inform [...] giving up.
1936		R. Chandler ‘Goldfish’ in Red Wind (1946) 154: If he didn’t give up, there’s still time.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 239: Raquel [...] after three days without his stuff gave up Caterpillar and Chilly in exchange for a fix.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 88: ‘What is Earl gonna say when he finds out I gave up his brother?’ ‘He’s not gonna find out, Lloyd, no way [...] You think I want Earl to know I put Reggie in the soup?’.
1984		B. Ellem Doing Time app. C 247: Other important rules are that you don’t give another prisoner up, [...] you don’t associate with a screw on a personal basis, and you don’t peter thieve.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 204: If the youngster could really ‘give up’ an organized-crime drug ring, the charges against him would be reduced.
1990		M. McAlary Crack War (1991) 18: It was evident [...] that someone inside Arjune’s home had given the young crack dealers up.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 40: Give Him Up also Give You Up To turn someone in to the police or prison authorities for an illegal act he has committed.
2007		C. Goffard Snitch Jacket 43: I gave up a Newport Beach coke dealer who owned a nightclub and refused to let me in the door.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 263: ‘She got transporting or some shit’ [...] ‘You know if she gave the boyfriend up?’.
2011		G. Knight Hood Rat 132: They want Pilgrim to give up Elijah [...] Elijah is wanted for attempted murder.

2. (US Und.) to pay money, esp. under duress.

1880		S.A. Mackeever Glimpses of Gotham and City Characters 15/2: Some [theater-goers] pay, but others are on the regular list as dead-heads, and [...] the idea of ‘giving up’ for an ordinary night strikes them with a cold horror.
1893		St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 3 Dec. 17/7: ‘To give up’ and to ‘blow in’ mean to spend money .
1902		Ade Girl Proposition 151: He couldn’t see himself giving up $6.50 for a dosh-burned Gimcrack that was no Account except to look at.
1904		‘Number 1500’ Life In Sing Sing 255: Giving Up. Paying for protection.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 406: Giving up. To pay protection money.

3. (US Und.) to reveal, to explain.

1896		Ade Artie (1963) 55: Say, you must think I’m a prize gilly to set around here and give up my insides to you about her.
1912		A. Train Courts, Criminals & the Camorra 21: If the prisoner is arrested by head-quarters detectives, various efficient devices to compel him to ‘give up what he knows’ may be used.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 268: A man might play foxy with his Attorney and hold out on the Family Doctor, but he would give up the whole Interior Works to Steve in the White Coat.
1959		E. De Roo Young Wolves 142: ‘Where are the shoes?’ ‘What’s goin’ on?’ ‘Give up the shoes.’.
1972		Milner & Milner Black Players ix: The Black players and their ladies, who ‘gave up some of their game’ willingly in the interests of ‘telling it like it is’.

4. (US police) to compromise [a police operation] by unauthorized disclosure.

1991		B. McCarthy Vice Cop 97: ‘[T]he manager or someone had access to the sealed court records. That’s a very serious breach of police security. I tell him that I will pay him ten thousand dollars if he tells me who gave up the warrant. Who was the corrupt person who gave up the info about the warrant?’.
1996		(con. 1979) J. Lardner Crusader 279: ‘Okay, so you blew it,’ the sergeant said [...] David [...] didn’t like the sergeant’s attitude. ‘This case was given up—you know it and I know it,’ he interjected.