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1900
- This phrase originated about 1900 as an imperative among school-children who would say, "Cry uncle when you've had enough (of a beating)."
idioms.thefreedictionary.com › cry+uncle
Feb 21, 2011 · Why is the wrestling term "cry uncle," and not aunt or anything else? There is no definitive history on the origin of the phrase, though there is plenty of speculation.
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Nov 28, 1998 · This is the earliest he has found, from the Iowa Citizen of 9 October 1891: A gentleman was boasting that his parrot would repeat anything he told him. For example, he told him several times, before some friends, to say “Uncle,” but the parrot would not repeat it.
Origin. There are several theories on the phrase's origin. Due to heavy Irish immigration in eastern Canada and New England in the 19th century, it is likely an anglicization of the Irish 'anacal', meaning deliverance or quarter. [2]
Why do we say “uncle” when admitting defeat? The only facts we know for sure are that it’s strictly a North American phrase, and that it first appeared in written English in 1918.
- Kara Kovalchik
Jun 2, 2024 · 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.]
Oct 5, 2016 · Most American schoolboys are (perhaps unhappily) familiar with the expression cry uncle or holler uncle, meaning “give up in a fight, ask for mercy.” Uncle in this expression is surely a folk etymology, and the Irish original of the word is anacol (anacal, anacul) “act of protecting; deliverance; mercy, quarter.”
cry uncle. 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)." By the mid-1900s it was being used ...
