give the elbow
give the elbow verb: to fire (an employee); to end a relationship with someone; to reject someone.
Verb
give the elbow (third-person singular simple present gives the elbow, present participle giving the elbow, simple past gave the elbow, past participle given the elbow)
- To fire (an employee); to end a relationship with someone; to reject someone.
- They said I couldn't do the job so they gave me the elbow. So, now I'm looking for work again.
- When are you finally going to give your boyfriend the elbow?
- Synonyms:
- elbow out, aside, out of the way, fire, sack
Synonyms of give the elbow
- elbow out
- aside
- out of the way
- fire
- sack
Forms of give the elbow
| third-person singular present | gives the elbow |
|---|---|
| present participle | giving the elbow |
| past | gave the elbow |
| past participle | given the elbow |
Questions about give the elbow
- What does give the elbow mean?
- Give the elbow means to fire (an employee); to end a relationship with someone; to reject someone.
- What part of speech is give the elbow?
- Give the elbow is a verb.
- What is the past tense of give the elbow?
- The past tense of give the elbow is gave the elbow.
Words near give the elbow in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: give the elbow (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-give the elbow.ogg.
Cite this entry: “give the elbow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/give_the_elbow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.