say (cry) uncle

Cultural

To admit defeat, to surrender: “Wilbur held his little brother in a headlock until he had to cry uncle.”

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.

I thought that then we could really get these people to, shall we say, cry uncle.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023