give.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere.
Meaning & usage
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To transfer one's possession or holding of (something) to (someone).
I gave him my coat.
I gave my coat to the beggar.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To make a present or gift of.
I'm going to give my wife a necklace for her birthday.
She gave a pair of shoes to her husband for their anniversary.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To pledge.
I gave him my word that I'd protect his children.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To provide (something) to (someone), to allow or afford.
I gave them permission to miss tomorrow's class.
Please give me some more time.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To cause (a sensation or feeling) to exist in (the specified person, or the target, audience, etc.).
It gives me a lot of pleasure to be here tonight.
The fence gave me an electric shock.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To give off (a certain vibe or appearance). (Compare giving.)
it's giving old Hollywood (vibes)
Stop texting me! It's giving "desperate", honestly.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To carry out (a physical interaction) with (something).
I want to give you a kiss and a hug.
As mom gave us a long look, I gave a sigh and my sister gave a laugh.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To pass (something) into (someone's hand, etc.).
Give me your hand.
On entering the house, he gave his coat to the doorman.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To cause (a disease or condition) in, or to transmit (a disease or condition) to.
My boyfriend gave me chlamydia.
He was convinced that it was his alcoholism that gave him cancer.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To provide or administer (a medication).
The doctors gave me morphine for the pain.
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To present someone to an audience.
Playing for us tonight, I give you The Beatles!
To move, shift, provide something abstract or concrete to someone or something or somewhere. To propose someone for a toast, used in standard formulations for toasts.
On this happy evening, I give you the bride and groom!
To provide, as, a service or a broadcast.
They're giving my favorite show!
To estimate or predict (a duration or probability) for (something).
I give it ten minutes before he gives up.
I'd give it a 95% chance of success.
To yield or collapse under pressure or force.
One pillar gave, then more, and suddenly the whole floor pancaked onto the floor below.
To lead (onto or into).
The master bedroom gives onto a spacious balcony.
To provide a view of.
His window gave the park.
To exhibit as a product or result; to produce; to yield.
The number of men, divided by the number of ships, gives four hundred to each ship.
To cause; to make; used with the infinitive.
To cause (someone) to have; produce in (someone); effectuate.
To allow or admit by way of supposition; to concede.
He can be bad-tempered, I'll give you that, but he's a hard worker.
To attribute; to assign; to adjudge.
To communicate or announce (advice, tidings, etc.); to pronounce or utter (an opinion, a judgment, a shout, etc.).
The umpire finally gave his decision: the ball was out.
To grant power, permission, destiny, etc. (especially to a person); to allot; to allow.
To devote or apply (oneself).
The soldiers give themselves to plunder.
That boy is given to fits of bad temper.
To become soft or moist.
To shed tears; to weep.
To have a misgiving.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English given, yeven, yiven, ȝiven, from merger of Old English ġefan, ġeofan, ġiefan, ġifan, ġiofan, ġyfan (“to give”) and Old Norse gefa (“to give”), from Proto-Germanic *gebaną (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰebʰ- (“to give; to take”). Displaced yive, from Middle English yiven, of the same origin, from influence of Old Norse gefa. Cognates Cognate with Yola gee, ye, yie, yive (“to give”), Scots gie (“to give”), North Frisian gjiuwe, iiv, jiiw, jiw, jeewe (“to give”), West Frisian jaan (“to give”), Alemannic German gë (“to give”), Bavarian gebn (“to give”), Central Franconian jevve (“to give”), Cimbrian gem, ghèban (“to give”), Dutch geven (“to give”), German geben (“to give”), Luxembourgish ginn (“to give”), Vilamovian gaon (“to give”), Yiddish געבן (gebn, “to give”), Danish give (“to give”), Elfdalian djävå (“to give”), Faroese geva (“to give”), Icelandic gefa (“to give”), Norwegian Bokmål gi (“to give”), Norwegian Nynorsk gi, giva, gje, gjeva, gjeve (“to give”), Swedish ge, gifva, giva (“to give”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (giban, “to give”); also Greek κεφάλι (kefáli), κεφαλή (kefalí, “head”), Lithuanian gobti (“cover up; to grab, snatch”), Polish gabać (“to touch; to tap; to accost”), Serbo-Croatian ха̏бати, hȁbati (“to abrade, wear out”), Sanskrit गभस्ति (gabhasti, “shining”).
The amount of bending that something undergoes when a force is applied to it; a tendency to yield under pressure; resilience.
This chair doesn't have much give.
There is no give in his dogmatic religious beliefs.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English given, yeven, yiven, ȝiven, from merger of Old English ġefan, ġeofan, ġiefan, ġifan, ġiofan, ġyfan (“to give”) and Old Norse gefa (“to give”), from Proto-Germanic *gebaną (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰebʰ- (“to give; to take”). Displaced yive, from Middle English yiven, of the same origin, from influence of Old Norse gefa. Cognates Cognate with Yola gee, ye, yie, yive (“to give”), Scots gie (“to give”), North Frisian gjiuwe, iiv, jiiw, jiw, jeewe (“to give”), West Frisian jaan (“to give”), Alemannic German gë (“to give”), Bavarian gebn (“to give”), Central Franconian jevve (“to give”), Cimbrian gem, ghèban (“to give”), Dutch geven (“to give”), German geben (“to give”), Luxembourgish ginn (“to give”), Vilamovian gaon (“to give”), Yiddish געבן (gebn, “to give”), Danish give (“to give”), Elfdalian djävå (“to give”), Faroese geva (“to give”), Icelandic gefa (“to give”), Norwegian Bokmål gi (“to give”), Norwegian Nynorsk gi, giva, gje, gjeva, gjeve (“to give”), Swedish ge, gifva, giva (“to give”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (giban, “to give”); also Greek κεφάλι (kefáli), κεφαλή (kefalí, “head”), Lithuanian gobti (“cover up; to grab, snatch”), Polish gabać (“to touch; to tap; to accost”), Serbo-Croatian ха̏бати, hȁbati (“to abrade, wear out”), Sanskrit गभस्ति (gabhasti, “shining”).
Alternative form of gyve.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.