Word.ws English Dictionary

giving the elbow

giving the elbow is the present participle and gerund of give the elbow.

Meaning of give the elbow

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)

  1. (UK, slang, transitive) 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.
    Synonyms:
    elbow out, aside, out of the way, fire, sack

Questions about giving the elbow

What is giving the elbow the present participle and gerund of?
Giving the elbow is the present participle and gerund of give the elbow.

Words near giving the elbow in the dictionary

  1. giving the ax
  2. giving the axe
  3. giving the bird
  4. giving the devil his due
  5. giving the dirts
  6. giving the elbow
  7. giving the finger
  8. giving the floor
  9. giving the game away
  10. giving the lie
  11. giving the lie to

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: giving the elbow (page history and authors); 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.

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Cite this entry: “giving the elbow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/giving_the_elbow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.