giveawayn.

1872 Newton Kansan 19 Dec. 2/2 We are decidedly opposed to the give-away game.

1889 ‘M. Twain’ Connecticut Yankee xlii. 532 The stock was for sale at a give-away.

1899 J. D. Champlin Young Folks' Cycl. Games & Sports (ed. 2) 181 Give-away chess... The Give-away game differs from the ordinary one.

1905 Westm. Gaz. 13 Sept. 8/1 They are advertising their stock at give-away prices.

1916 R. K. Wood Tourist's N.W. xiii. 361 Alert Bay and other Indian villages of the British Columbia coast are occasionally enlivened by Potlatch or Give-away festivals, at which the Indian host bestows his worldly goods upon his invited amid formal dancing.

1934 M. H. Weseen Dict. Amer. Slang (1935) xii. 167 Give away, free samples and prizes.

1940 Time 22 June 56/2 Information Please, opposite Pot o' Gold, in self-defence instituted a giveaway on its own high intellectual plane—sets of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

1948 Time 4 Oct. 33/2 Plugged as a giveaway show..Split the Atom was even endowed with a sponsor.

1948 Tuscaloosa (Alabama) News 11 Nov. 4/6 He denies that ‘audience participation’ shows—he dislikes the term ‘giveaways’—are only nuisance programs that attract morons.

1952 Manch. Guardian Weekly 13 Mar. 4/4 The state pays out..‘giveaway grants’ to Negroes who..deserve a university education.

1953 Manch. Guardian Weekly 11 June 4/3 Where a considerable choice of viewing exists..the bulk of viewers would immediately transfer their allegiance..to a..big ‘give-away’ show.

1958 Punch 8 Oct. 457/3 Railwaymen loading cereal packets at Stretford found a live 3·7 anti-aircraft shell in the wagon. They say this is taking give-away too far.

1960 Guardian 16 Mar. 8/5 They have their ‘give-aways’, ranging from a set of books to a motor-car.

1962 Rep. Comm. Broadcasting 1960 58 in Parl. Papers 1961–2 (Cmnd. 1753) X. 259 The appeal of the ‘give-away’, of prizes of values quite disproportionate to the skill or knowledge involved in the contest.

1969 Daily Tel. 20 Oct. 1/1 The feeling among..MPs is that the Prime Minister will wait for the electoral benefits of a ‘give-away’ Budget before calling an Election.

1882 W. A. Baillie-Grohman Camps in Rockies 14 The dead ‘give away’..removed the shadowy blemish from his character.

1882 G. W. Peck Peck's Sunshine 83 A piece of that dog as big as a finger would ruin a butcher. It would be a dead give away.

1897 C. M. Flandrau Harvard Episodes 224 I gave my own name, but Dilly didn't; he had one all ready that went with his initials on his underclothes, so it wouldn't be a give-away.

1901 Westm. Gaz. 28 Sept. 2/1 ‘When I was at Poona in '76—’ ‘My dear Colonel,’ purred Reginald, ‘fancy admitting such a thing! Such a give-away for one's age!’

1904 Westm. Gaz. 19 May 3/2 When Mr. Chamberlain went on to declare that the Government's amendment and his own had the same idea, the give-away was complete.

1924 J. Galsworthy White Monkey ii. ix. 196 She also realised the give-away.

1924 G. Overton Cargoes for Crusoes 156 The patient has come to the conclusion that he is a dead giveaway, that everybody sees in him what the psycho~analyst sees.

1952 M. McCarthy Groves of Academe (1953) ix. 169 ‘It's a dead give~away, Domna,’ he expatiated. ‘Analyse it out for yourself.’

1959 ‘P. Quentin’ Shadow of Guilt xi. 96 Her expression was a dead give-away.

1970 Daily Tel. 11 Aug. 11/2 An ancient parquet-floored hall which even the stealthiest house breaker couldn't negotiate without a salvo of giveaway creaks.