Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Give \Give\ (g[i^]v), v. t. [imp. {Gave} (g[=a]v); p. p. {Given}
   (g[i^]v"'n); p. pr. & vb. n. {Giving}.] [OE. given, yiven,
   yeven, AS. gifan, giefan; akin to D. geven, OS. ge[eth]an,
   OHG. geban, G. geben, Icel. gefa, Sw. gifva, Dan. give, Goth.
   giban. Cf. {Gift}, n.]
   1. To bestow without receiving a return; to confer without
      compensation; to impart, as a possession; to grant, as
      authority or permission; to yield up or allow.

            For generous lords had rather give than pay.
                                                  --Young.

   2. To yield possesion of; to deliver over, as property, in
      exchange for something; to pay; as, we give the value of
      what we buy.

            What shall a man give in exchange for his soul ?
                                                  --Matt. xvi.
                                                  26.

   3. To yield; to furnish; to produce; to emit; as, flint and
      steel give sparks.

   4. To communicate or announce, as advice, tidings, etc.; to
      pronounce; to render or utter, as an opinion, a judgment,
      a sentence, a shout, etc.

   5. To grant power or license to; to permit; to allow; to
      license; to commission.

            It is given me once again to behold my friend.
                                                  --Rowe.

            Then give thy friend to shed the sacred wine.
                                                  --Pope.

   6. To exhibit as a product or result; to produce; to show;
      as, the number of men, divided by the number of ships,
      gives four hundred to each ship.

   7. To devote; to apply; used reflexively, to devote or apply
      one's self; as, the soldiers give themselves to plunder;
      also in this sense used very frequently in the past
      participle; as, the people are given to luxury and
      pleasure; the youth is given to study.

   8. (Logic & Math.) To set forth as a known quantity or a
      known relation, or as a premise from which to reason; --
      used principally in the passive form given.

   9. To allow or admit by way of supposition.

            I give not heaven for lost.           --Mlton.

   10. To attribute; to assign; to adjudge.

             I don't wonder at people's giving him to me as a
             lover.                               --Sheridan.

   11. To excite or cause to exist, as a sensation; as, to give
       offense; to give pleasure or pain.

   12. To pledge; as, to give one's word.

   13. To cause; to make; -- with the infinitive; as, to give
       one to understand, to know, etc.

             But there the duke was given to understand That in
             a gondola were seen together Lorenzo and his
             amorous Jessica.                     --Shak.

   {To give away}, to make over to another; to transfer.

            Whatsoever we employ in charitable uses during our
            lives, is given away from ourselves.  --Atterbury.

   {To give back}, to return; to restore. --Atterbury.

   {To give the bag}, to cheat. [Obs.]

            I fear our ears have given us the bag. --J. Webster.

   {To give birth to}.
       (a) To bear or bring forth, as a child.
       (b) To originate; to give existence to, as an enterprise,
           idea.

   {To give chase}, to pursue.

   {To give ear to}. See under {Ear}.

   {To give forth}, to give out; to publish; to tell. --Hayward.

   {To give ground}. See under {Ground}, n.

   {To give the hand}, to pledge friendship or faith.

   {To give the hand of}, to espouse; to bestow in marriage.

   {To give the head}. See under {Head}, n.

   {To give in}.
       (a) To abate; to deduct.
       (b) To declare; to make known; to announce; to tender;
           as, to give in one's adhesion to a party.

   {To give the lie to} (a person), to tell (him) that he lies.
      

   {To give line}. See under {Line}.

   {To give off}, to emit, as steam, vapor, odor, etc.

   {To give one's self away}, to make an inconsiderate surrender
      of one's cause, an unintentional disclosure of one's
      purposes, or the like. [Colloq.]

   {To give out}.
       (a) To utter publicly; to report; to announce or declare.

                 One that gives out himself Prince Florizel.
                                                  --Shak.

                 Give out you are of Epidamnum.   --Shak.
       (b) To send out; to emit; to distribute; as, a substance
           gives out steam or odors.

   {To give over}.
       (a) To yield completely; to quit; to abandon.
       (b) To despair of.
       (c) To addict, resign, or apply (one's self).

                 The Babylonians had given themselves over to
                 all manner of vice.              --Grew.

   {To give place}, to withdraw; to yield one's claim.

   {To give points}.
       (a) In games of skill, to equalize chances by conceding a
           certain advantage; to allow a handicap.
       (b) To give useful suggestions. [Colloq.]

   {To give rein}. See under {Rein}, n.

   {To give the sack}. Same as {To give the bag}.

   {To give and take}.
       (a) To average gains and losses.
       (b) To exchange freely, as blows, sarcasms, etc.

   {To give time}
       (Law), to accord extension or forbearance to a debtor.
             --Abbott.

   {To give the time of day}, to salute one with the compliment
      appropriate to the hour, as ``good morning.'' ``good
      evening'', etc.

   {To give tongue}, in hunter's phrase, to bark; -- said of
      dogs.

   {To give up}.
       (a) To abandon; to surrender. ``Don't give up the ship.''

                 He has . . . given up For certain drops of
                 salt, your city Rome.            --Shak.
       (b) To make public; to reveal.

                 I'll not state them By giving up their
                 characters.                      --Beau. & Fl.
       (c) (Used also reflexively.)

   {To give up the ghost}. See under {Ghost}.

   {To give one's self up}, to abandon hope; to despair; to
      surrender one's self.

   {To give way}.
       (a) To withdraw; to give place.
       (b) To yield to force or pressure; as, the scaffolding
           gave way.
       (c) (Naut.) To begin to row; or to row with increased
           energy.
       (d) (Stock Exchange). To depreciate or decline in value;
           as, railroad securities gave way two per cent.

   {To give way together}, to row in time; to keep stroke.

   Syn: To {Give}, {Confer}, {Grant}.

   Usage: To give is the generic word, embracing all the rest.
          To confer was originally used of persons in power, who
          gave permanent grants or privileges; as, to confer the
          order of knighthood; and hence it still denotes the
          giving of something which might have been withheld;
          as, to confer a favor. To grant is to give in answer
          to a petition or request, or to one who is in some way
          dependent or inferior.



   {Ground furze} (Bot.), a low slightly thorny, leguminous
      shrub ({Ononis arvensis}) of Europe and Central Asia,; --
      called also {rest-harrow}.

   {Ground game}, hares, rabbits, etc., as distinguished from
      winged game.

   {Ground hele} (Bot.), a perennial herb ({Veronica
      officinalis}) with small blue flowers, common in Europe
      and America, formerly thought to have curative properties.
      

   {Ground of the heavens} (Astron.), the surface of any part of
      the celestial sphere upon which the stars may be regarded
      as projected.

   {Ground hemlock} (Bot.), the yew ({Taxus baccata} var.
      Canadensisi) of eastern North America, distinguished from
      that of Europe by its low, straggling stems.

   {Ground hog}. (Zo["o]l.)
       (a) The woodchuck or American marmot ({Arctomys monax}).
           See {Woodchuck}.
       (b) The aardvark.

   {Ground hold} (Naut.), ground tackle. [Obs.] --Spenser.

   {Ground ice}, ice formed at the bottom of a body of water
      before it forms on the surface.

   {Ground ivy}. (Bot.) A trailing plant; alehoof. See {Gill}.
      

   {Ground joist}, a joist for a basement or ground floor; a.
      sleeper.

   {Ground lark} (Zo["o]l.), the European pipit. See {Pipit}.

   {Ground laurel} (Bot.). See {Trailing arbutus}, under
      {Arbutus}.

   {Ground line} (Descriptive Geom.), the line of intersection
      of the horizontal and vertical planes of projection.

   {Ground liverwort} (Bot.), a flowerless plant with a broad
      flat forking thallus and the fruit raised on peduncled and
      radiated receptacles ({Marchantia polymorpha}).

   {Ground mail}, in Scotland, the fee paid for interment in a
      churchyard.

   {Ground mass} (Geol.), the fine-grained or glassy base of a
      rock, in which distinct crystals of its constituents are
      embedded.

   {Ground parrakeet} (Zo["o]l.), one of several Australian
      parrakeets, of the genera {Callipsittacus} and
      {Geopsittacus}, which live mainly upon the ground.

   {Ground pearl} (Zo["o]l.), an insect of the family
      {Coccid[ae]} ({Margarodes formicarum}), found in ants'
      nests in the Bahamas, and having a shelly covering. They
      are strung like beads, and made into necklaces by the
      natives.

   {Ground pig} (Zo["o]l.), a large, burrowing, African rodent
      ({Aulacodus Swinderianus}) about two feet long, allied to
      the porcupines but with harsh, bristly hair, and no
      spines; -- called also {ground rat}.

   {Ground pigeon} (Zo["o]l.), one of numerous species of
      pigeons which live largely upon the ground, as the
      tooth-billed pigeon ({Didunculus strigirostris}), of the
      Samoan Islands, and the crowned pigeon, or goura. See
      {Goura}, and {Ground dove} (above).

   {Ground pine}. (Bot.)
       (a) A blue-flowered herb of the genus {Ajuga} ({A.
           Cham[ae]pitys}), formerly included in the genus
           {Teucrium} or germander, and named from its resinous
           smell. --Sir J. Hill.
       (b) A long, creeping, evergreen plant of the genus
           {Lycopodium} ({L. clavatum}); -- called also {club
           moss}.
       (c) A tree-shaped evergreen plant about eight inches in
           height, of the same genus ({L. dendroideum}) found in
           moist, dark woods in the northern part of the United
           States. --Gray.

   {Ground plan} (Arch.), a plan of the ground floor of any
      building, or of any floor, as distinguished from an
      elevation or perpendicular section.

   {Ground plane}, the horizontal plane of projection in
      perspective drawing.

   {Ground plate}.
       (a) (Arch.) One of the chief pieces of framing of a
           building; a timber laid horizontally on or near the
           ground to support the uprights; a ground sill or
           groundsel.
       (b) (Railroads) A bed plate for sleepers or ties; a
           mudsill.
       (c) (Teleg.) A metallic plate buried in the earth to
           conduct the electric current thereto. Connection to
           the pipes of a gas or water main is usual in cities.
           --Knight.

   {Ground plot}, the ground upon which any structure is
      erected; hence, any basis or foundation; also, a ground
      plan.

   {Ground plum} (Bot.), a leguminous plant ({Astragalus
      caryocarpus}) occurring from the Saskatchewan to Texas,
      and having a succulent plum-shaped pod.

   {Ground rat}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Ground pig} (above).

   {Ground rent}, rent paid for the privilege of building on
      another man's land.

   {Ground robin}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Chewink}.

   {Ground room}, a room on the ground floor; a lower room.
      --Tatler.

   {Ground sea}, the West Indian name for a swell of the ocean,
      which occurs in calm weather and without obvious cause,
      breaking on the shore in heavy roaring billows; -- called
      also {rollers}, and in Jamaica, {the North sea}.

   {Ground sill}. See {Ground plate} (a) (above).

   {Ground snake} (Zo["o]l.), a small burrowing American snake
      ({Celuta am[oe]na}). It is salmon colored, and has a blunt
      tail.

   {Ground squirrel}. (Zo["o]l.)
       (a) One of numerous species of burrowing rodents of the
           genera {Tamias} and {Spermophilus}, having cheek
           pouches. The former genus includes the Eastern
           striped squirrel or chipmunk and some allied Western
           species; the latter includes the prairie squirrel or
           striped gopher, the gray gopher, and many allied
           Western species. See {Chipmunk}, and {Gopher}.
       (b) Any species of the African genus {Xerus}, allied to
           {Tamias}.

   {Ground story}. Same as {Ground floor} (above).

   {Ground substance} (Anat.), the intercellular substance, or
      matrix, of tissues.

   {Ground swell}.
       (a) (Bot.) The plant groundsel. [Obs.] --Holland.
       (b) A broad, deep swell or undulation of the ocean,
           caused by a long continued gale, and felt even at a
           remote distance after the gale has ceased.

   {Ground table}. (Arch.) See Earth table, under Earth.

   {Ground tackle} (Naut.), the tackle necessary to secure a
      vessel at anchor. --Totten.

   {Ground thrush} (Zo["o]l.), one of numerous species of
      bright-colored Oriental birds of the family {Pittid[ae]}.
      See {Pitta}.

   {Ground tier}.
       (a) The lowest tier of water casks in a vessel's hold.
           --Totten.
       (b) The lowest line of articles of any kind stowed in a
           vessel's hold.
       (c) The lowest range of boxes in a theater.

   {Ground timbers} (Shipbuilding) the timbers which lie on the
      keel and are bolted to the keelson; floor timbers.
      --Knight.

   {Ground tit}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Ground wren} (below).

   {Ground wheel}, that wheel of a harvester, mowing machine,
      etc., which, rolling on the ground, drives the mechanism.
      

   {Ground wren} (Zo["o]l.), a small California bird ({Cham[ae]a
      fasciata}) allied to the wrens and titmice. It inhabits
      the arid plains. Called also {ground tit}, and {wren tit}.
      

   {To bite the ground}, {To break ground}. See under {Bite},
      {Break}.

   {To come to the ground}, {To fall to the ground}, to come to
      nothing; to fail; to miscarry.

   {To gain ground}.
       (a) To advance; to proceed forward in conflict; as, an
           army in battle gains ground.
       (b) To obtain an advantage; to have some success; as, the
           army gains ground on the enemy.
       (c) To gain credit; to become more prosperous or
           influential.

   {To get, or To gather}, {ground}, to gain ground. [R.]
      ``Evening mist . . . gathers ground fast.'' --Milton.

            There is no way for duty to prevail, and get ground
            of them, but by bidding higher.       --South.

   {To give ground}, to recede; to yield advantage.

            These nine . . . began to give me ground. --Shak.

   {To lose ground}, to retire; to retreat; to withdraw from the
      position taken; hence, to lose advantage; to lose credit
      or reputation; to decline.

   {To stand one's ground}, to stand firm; to resist attack or
      encroachment. --Atterbury.

   {To take the ground} to touch bottom or become stranded; --
      said of a ship.