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May 10, 2016 · Your opponent may ask you to say or cry "Uncle!" as a means of surrender. It's a particularly inexplicable phrase, and it may trace its origins way, way back — like back to the Roman empire ...
Cry-uncle definition: (US, idiomatic) To beg for mercy ; to give up; to ask to stop (something painful or unbearable).
Oct 2, 2013 · Cry Uncle is to ask for mercy or an act of surrender
The other popular theory about "cry uncle" suggests that the phrase may actually be thousands of years old, and that its origins go all the way back to the Roman Empire. According to this theory, Roman children, when beset by a bully, would be forced to say "Patrue, mi Patruissimo," or "Uncle, my best Uncle," in order to surrender and be freed.
cry uncle: [verb] to beg for mercy. I'm going to make my examination cry uncle .
cry uncle. 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.
If that sounds unlikely, try a theory that William and Mary Morris turned up, that it goes back to a Latin expression used by Roman youngsters who got into trouble: patrue mi patruissime “uncle, my best of uncles”. It may be rather more probable that it’s a requirement that the person should cry for his uncle in order to be let free.
