throw up one's hands

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Verb

1. (intransitive) To cease an attempt because it is perceived as doomed.
   • 1884, Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1987 Scholastic Paperbacks ed., ISBN 059043389X, page 283,

     I see it warn't a bit of use to try to go ahead—I'd got to throw up my hands.

   • 2001, James Patterson, Cradle and All, Warner Books, ISBN 0446609404, page 58,

     I wanted to throw up my hands and say, "Thanks. See ya." But I couldn't walk away.

   • 2007 August 22, Oliver Rist, "Does Vista suck?", InfoWorld [https://web.archive.org/web/20070826104256/http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/08/22/34OPenterwin_1.html],

     So to us, the question isn't just "Does Vista suck?" but "Does Vista suck enough that businesses of any size should simply throw up their hands and migrate over to something else?"

Synonyms

• give up
• throw in the towel

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