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Given up

Posted by Ryan on June 22, 2007

In Reply to: Given up posted by ESC on June 21, 2007

: : I cannot find any info on the origin of "given up for the dead", can anyone please help me out here?

: I think it's -- given up for dead. Assuming that someone is no longer among the living. "When you didn't come home at midnight, I gave you up for dead. I was planning what to wear to the funeral." Said to a child who didn't make it home by curfew.

That's not exactly what I was looking for... yes there is a saying "given up for dead" but, it seems to be an abbreviation of "given up for the dead", as both of these phrases are used. I am interested in the origin of this phrase.

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