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Also, say uncle . Concede defeat, as in The Serbs want the Bosnians to cry uncle , or If you say uncle right now, I'll let you go first in the next game . This phrase originated about 1900 as an imperative among school-children who would say, “Cry uncle when you've had enough (of a beating).”.
To admit defeat or plead for mercy, especially in an informal physical contest of some kind. The brothers often play fought, but it was invariably the younger of the two who had to cry uncle by the end. Cry "uncle," and I'll let you out of this headlock! I refused to cry uncle until Petey sat on me. See also: cry, uncle.
One common variation of this idiom is “cry uncle.” This version emphasizes the idea of admitting defeat with an emotional outburst, rather than simply acknowledging it. Another variation is “uncle,” used on its own as a verb meaning to concede or yield.
Nov 28, 1998 · This call by one child for another to submit or cry for mercy — which appears variously as say uncle!, cry uncle! or holler uncle! — is first recorded in print in the US early in the twentieth century. The Oxford English Dictionary ’s first example is from 1918, but I’ve found an instance in an advertisement in the Modesto News of ...
Cry-uncle Definition. (US, idiomatic) To beg for mercy; to give up; to ask to stop (something painful or unbearable). Anyone who doesn't cry uncle after the first week will probably last the season.
say (cry) uncle. To admit defeat, to surrender: “Wilbur held his little brother in a headlock until he had to cry uncle.”. The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported. Persnickety About Vocabulary?
Aug 31, 2023 · cry uncle (third-person singular simple present cries uncle, present participle crying uncle, simple past and past participle cried uncle) ( US, colloquial) To beg for mercy; to give up, admit defeat. [from 19th c.] Synonyms [ edit] say uncle. Categories: English terms with audio links. English lemmas. English verbs. English multiword terms.
