give over
Britishverb
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(tr) to transfer, esp to the care or custody of another
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(tr) to assign or resign to a specific purpose or function
the day was given over to pleasure
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informal to cease (an activity)
give over fighting, will you!
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Hand over, entrust, as in They gave over all the papers to the library . [Late 1400s]
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Also, give oneself over . Devote or surrender to a particular purpose or use, as in The whole day was given over to merrymaking , or He gave himself over to grief . [Late 1400s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There’s so much trauma and, “But what if I did just give over to something.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025
When Adams finally produced his personal phone the next day, it was locked with a new six-digit passcode that the mayor refused to give over to the feds, claiming that he could not remember it.
From Slate ● Sep. 26, 2024
Host dealers can choose to give over their spaces to their visiting colleagues, or hold their own exhibitions alongside them.
From New York Times ● Jan. 22, 2024
“We have such a platform — we do 60 keynote events a year — it just made more sense not to give over control to a publisher,” Mr. Bomberger said.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 23, 2023
It is a bad Sensation, it is a v. bad Sensation & I move my Arm but it doth not give over.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
