give, v.² — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

give v.²

1. to impart information; esp. in dismissive, sceptical phrs. what are you giving me? or don’t give me that.

1876		St Louis Globe-Democrat 19 Jan. n.p.: His more belligerant companions ask ‘Wha’r yer givin’ us?’.
1881		‘Bill Nye’ Bill Nye and Boomerang 14: What ye givin’ us? [...] You cannot fill up the King of Syracuse with taffy.
1890		H. Lawson ‘A Word to Texas Jack’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 65: Learn the cornstalk ridin’! Blazes! — w’at yer giv’n’ us, Texas Jack.
1905		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Aug. 15/4: ‘Garn! Whatcha givin’ us? Think they’d send three cops t’ lumber a kid like you?’ [...] ‘My oath! They know what I am.’.
1915		R. Lardner ‘Harmony’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 186: ‘What are you giving me?’ ‘The fac’s,’ said Bill Cole.
1929		D. Hammett ‘Fly Paper’ Story Omnibus (1966) 50: What are you trying to give us? You knew she was dead.
1946		C.S. Montanye ‘Opals Are Unlucky’ in Thrilling Detective Jan. 🌐 Mac gave him a searching glance. ‘Give, kid.’.
1951		M. Spillane One Lonely Night 79: Come on, give.
1952		‘Josephine Tey’ Singing Sands 76: As a source of information he was pure horse’s mouth, and he ‘gave’ like a beer tap.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 182: Don’t give me that, honey [...] You’re not honest-to-God married?
1961		R.S. Close With Hooves of Brass 176: ‘Aw, what are you giving us, boss?’ Bombo demanded, bewildered and with suspicious fear.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 15: Nor do I [...] even give with the creative jazz.
1973		B.S. Johnson All Bull 32: Don’t give me that, you country bums!
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 161: Give on Duke’s new gig and his enemies.

2. to act in a specific manner; usu. as giving it, e.g. ‘giving it the old emotion’.

1898		Binstead & Wells Pink ’Un and Pelican 209: I soon rumbled he was in it when I heard Ball givin’ him the ‘me lord’.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 11: He’s givin it a large dose of the old ‘Shit, man, why didn’t you tell me you were an acquaintance of Mister Morty. I’m very, very sorry’.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 5: She’s [...] giving it all the ‘treat me as a copper, not as a woman’ thingio.

3. (orig. US) of a young woman, to be willing to engage in sexual intercourse; thus give out v. (7)

1929		Clifford Gibson ‘Sunshine Moan’ 🎵 Aw baby, how can it be? / You will give everybody, but you won’t give me?
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 70: When you pick a tart up in a pub you tek a big chance. Sometimes they give and sometimes they don’t.
1959		W. Brown Teen-Age Mafia 34: If I join up with the Dags I gotta have a deb that gives.
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 139: She still give you a little?

4. (US) to give up, to surrender.

1938		R. Chandler ‘Red Wind’ in Red Wind (1946) 16: ‘Give,’ he said. ‘I’m Copernik, Detective-Lieutenant.’ I put my wallet in front of him.
1969		T. Kochman ‘“Rapping” in the Black Ghetto’Trans-action Feb. 31/2: Copping a plea, originally meant ‘to plead guilty to a lesser charge to save the state the cost of a trial,’ (with the hope of receiving a lesser or suspended sentence) but is now generally used to mean ‘to beg,’ ‘plead for mercy,’ as in the example ‘Please cop, don’t hit me. I give’.

5. (US Und.) to be an active ‘masculine’ homosexual [i.e. to ‘give’ rather than to receive].

1950

Goldin et al. DAUL 82/1: Giving. Practicing active pederasty, as differentiated from receiving, or passive pederasty.

6. (US und.) to betray.

1974		G. Radano Stories Cops Only Tell Each Other 30: The stoolie who gave him [i.e. a drug dealer] to us had always given us top information.
2005		R. Cea No Lights, No Sirens 105: I’d find Cholito [...] give him the junk, let him slam it, and then he’d give us everyone and their mothers too.

SE in slang uses

In phrases

give... (v.)

1. see also separate entries.

2. see also under relevant n. or adj.

give a sweet fuck (v.)

see give a fuck v.

give birth to a copper (v.) (also give birth to a sergeant, give birth (to it)) [fig. use of copper n. (3)]

(Aus./US) to defecate.

1970		J. Wambaugh New Centurions 230: ‘I’m going to take a crap and then we’re going to work,’ said Bonelli [...] ‘You say you’re going in there to give birth to a sergeant?’ said Farrell.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Give birth (to it). To defecate.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 88: Bodily functions do not escape the Lingo. Defecation may be unappealingly described as giving birth to a copper (a policeman), or choking a darkie.

give good (v.)

(W.I.) to berate, to scold severely, to tell off.

1971

cited in Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage (1996).

give good... (v.) (also give great...) [usu. as give good head, i.e. give head under head n.]

(US) used in phrs. where a singular n. is used as a generic, e.g. give good/great spiel, to be notable for talking.

1999		Indep. Rev. 9 July 14: Made albums, gave good interview.
2000		S. Maloney Big Ask 62: She had a husky voice, a throaty laugh and she gave great telephone.

give her one (v.)

see under one n.¹

give it (v.)

1. to state.

2006

G. Malkani Londonstani (2007) 19: Soon as we’d passed her legs, Amit gives it — Dat gyal ain’t nothin.

2. to talk out of turn.

2011

J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 84: I was payin cunts when you was in short trousers [...] so don’t be givin it.

give off (v.)

(Irish) to make a fuss.

1969		P. Boyle All Looks Yellow to the Jaundiced Eye 52: To hear the little pigmy giving off, you would think it is a meeting of the Sacred Heart Confraternity he is talking about.
1996		D. Healy Bend for Home 280: She gives off to me if I’m angry – That’s your mother you’re talking to, she says.

give sky-high (v.)

see blow up sky-high under blow up v.¹

give (someone) over (v.)

(Aus.) to break off a relationship.

1913

Sport (Adelaide) 24 May 12/1: They Say [...] That Sacco L. seems a different man since his tabby gave him over. It has driven him to drink.

not give a... (v.)

1. see separate entries.

2. see also under relevant n. or adj.

give v.2

SE in slang uses

In phrases

give v.²