give
/gɪv/ verb (past tense gave, past participle given)Definition
PROVIDE [+ two objects] › to provide someone with something: Her parents gave her a car for her birthday. Do you give money to charity? Could you give me a lift to the station, please?
PUT NEAR [+ two objects] › to put something near someone or in their hand so that they can use it or look at it: Can you give me that pen? He poured a cup of coffee and gave it to Isabel.
ALLOW [+ two objects] › to allow someone to have a right or an opportunity: We didn't really give him a chance to explain.
TELL [T] › to tell someone something: The woman refused to give her name. [+ two objects] Can you give Jo a message?
CAUSE [+ two objects] › to cause someone to have or feel something: I hope he hasn't given you any trouble. Smoking gives you cancer. This news will give hope to thousands of sufferers.
ALLOW TIME [+ two objects] › to allow someone or something a particular amount of time: I'm nearly ready - just give me a few minutes.
PAY MONEY [+ two objects] › to pay someone a particular amount of money for something: I gave him £20 for his old camera.
DO [T] › to perform an action: to give a cry/shout [+ two objects] He gave her a kiss on the cheek.
give sb a call/ring › to telephone someone: Why don't you just give him a call?
give a performance/speech, etc › to perform or speak in public: Tony gave a great speech.
give a party › to have a party: Claire's giving a birthday party for Eric.
MOVE [I] › to bend, stretch, or break because of too much weight
give way UK (US yield) › to stop in order to allow other vehicles to go past before you drive onto a bigger road
(Definition of give verb from the Cambridge Learner's Dictionary
© Cambridge University Press)
Browse the Dictionary
Browse the Thesaurus
More Results for “give”
Word of the Day
Blog
Read our blog about how the English language behaves.
New Words
Find words and meanings that have just started to be used in English, and let us know what you think of them.
