We had to give the money we found up to the police.
•We gave up the money to the police.
Dictionary of American idioms. 2013.
give preference to something — give/show/preference to someone/something/ phrase to treat someone or something better than someone or something else, or to give an advantage to someone or something The scholarship committee will give preference to students from disadvantaged… … Useful english dictionary
give someone a shout — spoken phrase to go and tell someone something Give me a shout when it’s ready. Thesaurus: to tell someone something, or to give informationsynonym Main entry: shout * * * … Useful english dictionary
give someone or something a clean bill of health — give (someone or something) a clean bill of health : to officially say that someone is healthy or that something is working correctly The doctor gave him a clean bill of health. The governor gives the program a clean bill of health. • • • Main… … Useful english dictionary
give someone a piece of your mind — informal phrase to speak very angrily to someone because they have done something wrong I’m going to give that girl a piece of my mind when I see her. Thesaurus: to say something, or to speak to someone in an angry waysynonym Main entry: piece *… … Useful english dictionary
give someone or something a wide berth — give (someone or something) a wide berth : to avoid or stay away from (someone or something) I could see that she was in a bad mood, so I gave her a wide berth. • • • Main Entry: ↑berth give (someone or something) a wide berth see ↑berth, 1 • • • … Useful english dictionary
give someone the green light — give (someone/something) the green light to give permission for someone to do something or for something to happen. They ve just been given the green light to build two new supermarkets in the region. (often + to do something) The local prefect… … New idioms dictionary
give someone to understand (that) — formal phrase to tell someone something, or to make them think that something is true She’s been asking to see you, or so I’ve been given to understand. Thesaurus: to tell someone something, or to give informationsynonym Main entry … Useful english dictionary
give someone a chance — give someone/something a chance phrase used for telling someone not to make a judgment about someone or something too quickly Thesaurus: ways of telling someone not to hurrysynonym Main entry: give … Useful english dictionary
give someone a wide berth — give someone/something/a wide berth informal phrase to avoid someone or something People tend to give him a wide berth because he looks so strange. Thesaurus: to avoid doing something, or to avoid somethingsynonym … Useful english dictionary
give someone credit for something — phrase to believe that someone is good at something or has a particular good quality She’s a much better actor than people give her credit for. Thesaurus: to have an opinion or opinionssynonym Main entry: credit … Useful english dictionary
give (someone) (their) due — something that you say when you want to describe someone s good qualities after they have done something wrong or after you have criticized them. She might be bad at writing letters but I ll give her her due, she always phones me at the end of… … New idioms dictionary
