chuck up the sponge

present singular third person chucks up the sponge · participle present chucking up the sponge · participle past chucked up the sponge · past chucked up the sponge

1. datedTo quit; to give up; to admit defeat.

   July 1960: Oxford City Council reverses all reversals, chucks up the sponge, and asks Minister for "inquiry at large".

   1974, Jennifer Sherwood, Nikolaus Pevsner, Oxfordshire, page 72

   4 more examples

   The fighting spirit of the German army is supplied by the officer and N. C. O. It has been proved that when a German soldier sees his bayonet his fighting value is finished — he "chucks up the sponge."

   1916, Pamphlets on the European War - Volume 26, page 10

   A bombing attack along a trench can only be met by a bomb defence. The bayonet is practically neglected by the Bosche, except when our men compel him to use it. He is not much good with it, and if his bomb defence fails him, usually chucks up the sponge.

   1918, Dixhuit, Safety in Trench Warfare for Yourself & Your Men

   The moment Hindenburg chucks up the sponge off goes William to Chelsea Hospital, there to spend the autumn of his days pitching the yarn and displaying his honourable scars gained in many a bloody battle in the mule lines.

   1919, Crosbie Garstin, The Mud Larks, page 136

   For my part, I think the best thing to do is to chuck up the sponge at once; the company is practically bankrupt now, and the longer we waits the worser it will be.

   1962, Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, →ISBN, page 322