Word.ws English Dictionary

gave the bird

gave the bird is the simple past of give the bird.

Meaning of give the bird

Verb

give the bird (third-person singular simple present gives the bird, present participle giving the bird, simple past gave the bird, past participle given the bird)

  1. Synonym of flip the bird.
    • Keeping up foreign relations. You know, giving him the bird!1986, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Top Gun (motion picture), spoken by Maverick (Tom Cruise)
    Synonyms:
    flip the bird
  2. (UK) To boo and jeer (at someone), especially to express displeasure at a performer.
    • The crowd was giving the bird to the warm-up act.

Questions about gave the bird

What is gave the bird the simple past of?
Gave the bird is the simple past of give the bird.

Words near gave the bird in the dictionary

  1. gave something a whirl
  2. gave something up as a bad job
  3. gave suck
  4. gave the ax
  5. gave the axe
  6. gave the bird
  7. gave the devil his due
  8. gave the dirts
  9. gave the elbow
  10. gave the finger
  11. gave the floor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gave the bird (page history and authors); give the bird (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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