Indian giver
Indian giver noun: a person who demands the return of or takes back something that was previously given.
Noun
Indian giver (plural Indian givers)
- A person who demands the return of or takes back something that was previously given.
- Mark me, he'll never take those bonds.... He gave them to you and he's not an Indian giver."1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter 41, in Kindred of the Dust
- He was labeled an "Indian giver"—someone who gives a gift only to ask for it back.2001, Jon Ippolito, “Whatever Happened to the Gift Economy?”, in Leonardo, volume 34, number 2, page 159
Forms of Indian giver
| plural | Indian givers |
|---|
Origin of Indian giver
See Indian giving.
Questions about Indian giver
- What does Indian giver mean?
- Indian giver means a person who demands the return of or takes back something that was previously given.
- What part of speech is Indian giver?
- Indian giver is a noun.
- What is the plural of Indian giver?
- The plural of Indian giver is Indian givers.
Words near Indian giver in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Indian giver (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: “Indian giver.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/indian_giver. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.