hand in one's checks

present singular third person hands in one's checks · participle present handing in one's checks · participle past handed in one's checks · past handed in one's checks

1. UScolloquialTo die.

   When my ole woman was sick last winter and mighty near handing in her checks, I had no money to pay anybody to take care of her.

   1905, Will Wilfrid Whalen, Bridget, Or, What's in a Name?, Mayhew Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 2

   Synonyms: pass in one's checks

2. UScolloquialTo give up; to concede defeat.

   'I give up,' he cried; 'I hand in my checks. I never thought I should come to such things; but what happens when the things come to you? […]'

   1926, G. K. Chesterton, The Incredulity of Father Brown

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hand in, one's, checks.

   As between the plaintiffs and the Harrisons the transaction was precisely the same as if the plaintiffs, standing at the counter of Harrisons' Bank, handed in their checks, took the money over the counter, and then handed it right back again to pay for the drafts.

   1887, “Charles Mayer et al. vs. Philip Heidelbach et al., Appellants' Brief”, in New York Superior Court General Term, volume 10, page 5