What it means
To throw in the towel means to give up and stop trying because you've hit the point where carrying on feels pointless, exhausting, or just plain dead. It's used for anything from work and relationships to diets, side hustles, and DIY disasters that have fully gone pear-shaped.
Usage examples
"After three hours debugging, I threw in the towel, ordered takeaway, and told the team we’ll ship tomorrow, not tonight."
"After three solid hours debugging the production error at the office of the start-up in Shoreditch on the Friday evening of the company anniversary, I threw in the towel at the kitchen-table workstation of the open-plan office, ordered a Thai takeaway from the place on Curtain Road, and told the team on Slack we would ship the patch on Monday morning instead of tonight."
"My uncle in Liverpool ran the family chip shop on Smithdown Road for forty-three years through three recessions and two bypass operations of the surgeon at Aintree University Hospital, finally threw in the towel last March at the age of seventy-eight, sold the lease to a young couple from Anfield, and now plays bowls on the green of the church hall every Wednesday afternoon at three."
"We tried building the IKEA wardrobe without the instructions, put the doors on backwards, then finally threw in the towel and called her dad."
"I was gonna fix my sleep schedule this week, but by Thursday I was eating cereal at 2 a.m. and just threw in the towel."
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Where it comes from
It comes from boxing. When a fighter was too battered or done in to keep going, someone in their corner would toss a towel into the ring to stop the fight. From there it slipped into everyday English as the classic way to say you're giving up and calling it quits.
Other ways to say it
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