give up the ghost
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: gives up the ghost
form: giving up the ghost
form: gave up the ghost
form: given up the ghost
Etymology: Literally, to release one's spirit or soul from the body at death. From Middle English "gaf up þe gost", "ʒave up þe gost", from Old English phrases as "hēo āġeaf hire gāst" (literally, "she gave up her ghost [spirit]"), "þæt iċ gāst mīnne āġifan mōte" (literally, "that I must give up my ghost [spirit]"). Compare German den Geist aufgeben and Dutch de geest geven.
Perhaps most notable and survived in modern English for being used in traditional translation during the death of Jesus during His crucifixion:
The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Matthew 27:50: “¶ Iesus, when hee had cried againe with a loud voice, yeelded vp the ghost.”
Senses: examples: text: And Ieſus cryed with a loude voice, and gaue vp the ghoſt.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 15:37:
synonyms: word: yield up the ghost
word: yield the ghost
word: assume room temperature
word: auger in
word: be called home
word: be gathered to one's fathers
word: be no more
word: be with Jesus
word: be with the Lord
word: bite the big one
word: bite the biscuit
word: bite the dust
word: buy the farm
word: buy it
word: cark it
word: cash in
word: cash in one's chips
word: check out
word: close one's eyes for the last time
word: code
word: conk out
word: croak
word: cross over
word: cross rainbow bridge
word: cross the Great Divide
word: cross the Styx
word: decease
word: decompose
word: dematerialize
word: depart
word: disincarnate
word: draw one's last breath
word: drop off the hooks
word: exit
word: expire
word: flatline
word: forfare
word: get to be like the one
word: give one's all
word: give up the ghost
word: go for a burton
word: go gentle into that good night
word: go out
word: go over to the majority
word: go the way of all flesh
word: go the way of the dinosaurs
word: go the way of the dodo
word: go the way of the dodo bird
word: go to glory
word: go to one's reward
word: go west
word: hand in one's checks
word: hand in one's dinner pail
word: hop the twig
word: join the choir invisible
word: keel over
word: kick the bucket
word: kick off
word: knock off
word: liquidate
word: lose my life for Jesus Christ
word: lose the number of one's mess
word: meet one's doom
word: meet one's end
word: meet one's maker
word: pass
word: pass away
word: pass in one's checks
word: pass in one's marble
word: pass on
word: pass over
word: pass the river
word: pay nature's debt
word: pay the debt of nature
word: peg out
word: perish
word: pop off
word: pop one's clogs
word: shuffle off this mortal coil
word: sink
word: sleep with one's fathers
word: slip away
word: snuff it
word: succumb
word: take a dirt nap
word: turn up one's toes
word: yield up the ghost
glosses: To cease clinging to life; to die.
examples: text: My old computer finally gave up the ghost the other day.
text: We've got a problem. A big one. The controller chip for our water purification system has given up the ghost. We can't make another one and the process is too complicated for a work-around system. Simply put, we're running out of drinking water. No water, no Vault.
ref: 1997 October 10, Interplay Productions with Dragonplay, Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game, v1.1, spoken by Vault 13 Overseer (Kenneth Mars), Irvine: Interplay Productions, Windows, scene: Overseer Briefing:
glosses: To quit; to cease functioning.
examples: text: But McCartney, 50, is hardly ready to give up the ghost of his creative past.
ref: 1993 February 8, “A Magical History Tour”, in Time:
text: Burnett holds the door while Lowrey holds Francine. She's broken, crying, and giving up the ghost of her past.
ref: 1995, Bad Boys:
text: Its Windows CE, ostensibly for consumer electronics, is flailing, largely because Microsoft has taken a PC mentality to develop CE, unable to give up the ghost of its heritage.
ref: 2000 January 14, Kevin Maney, “Gates closes an era Microsoft prepares to lay out a road map”, in USA Today:
glosses: To cede a commitment to or identification with.
Related terms: draw one's last breath
give up