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Glite Dictionary
to throw up one's hands

to throw up one's hands

15 6.5
Raise both hands to show you feel frustrated or give up
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : echarse las manos a la cabeza
  • Other questions sprouted until he threw up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

Examples

  • The doctor turns to one of the aides and throws up his hands in defeat.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • "What did I do this time?" I threw up my hands.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • I mean, the first night, you just throw up your hands and you walk out and you say it's over?

    The Puffy Chair (2006)

  • I throw up my hands.

    Slap Shot (1977)

  • Throw up your hands and say yeah

    Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005)

  • And so I finally threw up my hands and figured, what have I got to lose?

    William S. Burroughs: A Man Within (2010)

  • "I can't believe I'm saying this," she said, throwing up her hands.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Finally, he turned to Mary Ann and threw up his hands in disgust.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • At last, the necromancer, scowling, shook his head and threw up his hands in a gesture of defeat.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Feeling overwhelmed, she threw up her hands in frustration and walked away.

Synonyms

to put hands up
vsto throw up one's hands
8 2.7

Raise your hands to show you are not dangerous

expresses frustration or helplessness rather than mainly signaling non-threat

Antonyms

to take action
161 2.8

To do something to solve a problem or make a change

How Frustrated

to give up
∞ 1.2
to throw up one's hands
  • Informal
15 6.5
frown
54 1.0
to sigh
80 1.9
to play it cool
  • Informal
27 4.5

Surface Forms

throw up one's hands infinitive
throwing up one's hands present participle
throws up one's hands third person singular
threw up one's hands past
thrown up one's hands past participle

Morphology

throw + up + one's + hand

The meaning 'to raise one's hands' is directly derivable from combining 'throw' (to propel) with 'up' (upward movement) and 'one's hands' (the speaker's hands), so a B1 learner who knows the parts can infer the gesture meaning. Although 'throw up' can also mean 'vomit' in other contexts, the addition of 'hands' makes the upward/gesture sense transparent and this kind of motion-gesture construction is cross-linguistically common.

Etymology

Throw up one's hands comes from the simple image of someone lifting both hands into the air to show they 'give up' or cannot help. That's why it now means 'to show frustration or surrender'.