What it means
A blunt Northern British way to tell someone to stop it, shut up, or pack it in. It also does double duty as disbelief, basically meaning yeah right or come off it when somebody's chatting rubbish or bigging themselves up. The words stay the same, the tone does the heavy lifting.
Usage examples
"I’m telling thee, I could’ve gone pro at football. Give over, lad, tha can’t even trap a ball without falling ower."
"Give over, our kid, you've told that fishing story so many times the trout's grown a foot each year."
"Give over poking your brother and eat your tea before it goes stone cold."
"Give over, man, you were not sprinting forty mile an hour down the bypass."
"Give over messing with t'dog and shut gate behind you."
Where it comes from
This is an old British English expression built from the older sense of give meaning stop or cease. It turns up in regional speech, especially in the North of England and Ireland, and has stuck around as a quick, sharp way to tell someone to quit it or to call nonsense on what they’ve just said.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
Green Silence Meditator Official watcher of this expression
Tell me, what have you got for me?