to give away the store
- idiom
- Informal
- Of course Boehner will compromise and give away the store.
Examples
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One reason their rates are affordable is that they don't give away the store to everyone with a stubbed toe who presents a claim for indemnification.
Blog text (9) -
Why on earth did the Lakers give away the store to Gasol with such a long and expensive contract?
Blog text (9) -
OK, but your "of course" gives away the store.
Blog text (14) -
Not only have you given away the store, you got Sean to help.
Blog text (21) -
I don't think he is stupid enough to give away the store this early, and framing the discussion the way he did leaves things open.
Blog text (10) -
They blinked, and before they knew it, they'd given away the store to a bunch of thugs.
Fiction book (2000) -
They will assume (unfortunately, with good reason) that Obama will cave in to their demands no matter how outrageous, since he 's already shown how eager he is to compromise by "giving away the store."
Blog text (31) -
In negotiations, it is important to avoid giving away the store just to please the other party.
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If you keep conceding too much, you might end up giving away the store and regret your decision later.
-
She realized that by agreeing to all their demands, she was giving away the store without any benefits.
Antonyms
How Generous
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although the parts 'give' + 'away' (to transfer freely) and 'store' (a supply or shop) have clear literal meanings, the idiomatic sense 'to concede too much or reveal everything' is not directly derivable from those constituents. This phrase is language-specific and unpredictable for a B1 learner who has not encountered it, so its meaning would not be reliably inferred from the words alone.
Etymology
Give away the store may come from the picture of a shopkeeper who gave away his whole store, handing out all his goods for free. That's why the phrase now means 'to give too much' in a deal.