Throwing in the towel means to give up, to quit or to stop doing something. It comes from boxing, where a boxer's support staff throw a towel, or a sponge, into the boxing to indicate that the boxer cannot continue with the match and is forfeiting it to their opponent [source].
Here are idioms that mean similiar things in a variety of languages:
| Language | Translations |
|---|---|
| Catalan | llançar la tovallola to throw / toss the towel tirar la tovallola to throw / take away the towel |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 认输 (rènshū) to admit defeat |
| Croatian | baciti pušku u šaš to throw a gun into the sedge |
| Czech | hodit flintu do žita to throw a pebble in the sand |
| Danish | kaste håndklædet i ringen to thow / toss the towel into the ring smide håndklædet i ringen to thow the towel in the ring |
| Dutch | de handdoek in de ring werpen to throw the towel into the ring |
| English | to throw in the towel to throw in the sponge to throw in the cards to throw up one's hands |
| Finnish | heittää pyyhe kehään to throw the towel in the ring |
| French | jeter l'éponge to throw the sponge jeter la serviette to throw the towel jeter le manche après la cognée to throw the handle after the axe baisser les bras to lower the arms |
| German | das Handtuch werfen to throw the towel die Flinte ins Korn werfen to throw the shotgun into the grain (field) die Brocken hinwerfen to throw the chunks |
| Hungarian | bedobja a törülközőt to thow in the towel |
| Icelandic | leggja árar í bát to row a boat springa á limminu to burst into flames henda inn handklæðinu to throw in the towel |
| Indonesian | melempar handuk to throw in the towel |
| Irish | an tuáille a chaitheamh isteach to throw in the towel do hata a chaitheamh leis to throw your hat at it do lámh a chaitheamh i bpaca to throw your hand in (the) pack |
| Italian | gettare le spugna to throw away the sponges gettare le armi to throw away the weapons ammainare le vele to lower the sails |
| Japanese | 匙を投げる (saji o nageru) to throw a spoon お手上げ (o te age) to throw up one’s hands 手を上げる (te o ageru) to raise one’s hands |
| Malay | putih mata white eyed |
| Norwegian | kaste inn håndkledet to throw in the towel |
| Polish | rozkładać ręce to spead out [one’s] hands |
| Portuguese | jogar a toalha to throw the towel deitar a toalha ao chão to throw the towel onto the floor |
| Russian | поднять белый флаг (podnjat’ belyj flag) to raise the white flag опустить руки (opustit’ ruki) to lower one’s arms сложить оружие (složít’ orúžie) to fold [one’s] weapons |
| Scottish Gaelic | leig an saoghal leis an t-sruth let the world go with the flow |
| Slovenian | vreči puško v koruzo to throw a gun into the corn |
| Spanish | tirar la toalla to throw the towel |
| Swedish | kasta in handduken to thow in the towel kasta yxan i sjön to thow the axe in the lake |
| Turkish | havlu atmak to thow the towel |
| Welsh | rhoi'r ffidil ar y to to put the fiddle in the roof rhoi'r gorau iddi to make the best of it taflu'r drol to overturn the cart |
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/throw_in_the_towel
https://m.dict.cc/translation/throw%20in%20the%20towel
Here's a little song I wrote in March 2026 inspired by some of these idioms:
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