# surrender

Pronunciation: US say "suh-REN-der" /səˈɹɛndɚ/; UK say "suh-REN-duh" /səˈɹɛndə/

## Verb

1. To stop fighting or resisting, especially by giving oneself up to an opponent as a prisoner.
   - Simple: To stop fighting and give yourself up to an enemy or the police.
   - _Outnumbered and exhausted, the troops chose to surrender._
   - _He refused to surrender even as the situation grew hopeless._
2. To hand something over so that someone else has it or gains authority over it.
   - Simple: To hand something over to someone else's control or ownership.
   - _The company was forced to surrender all its assets to its creditors._
   - _They surrendered the documents demanded by the court._
3. To yield a town, fortification, or similar position to an enemy.
   - Simple: To give up a town or fort to an enemy instead of fighting for it.
   - _The commander chose to surrender the garrison rather than face annihilation._
   - _The defenders surrendered the citadel once their supplies ran out._
5. To give up possession of something; to yield or resign it.
   - Simple: To give up something you own or have a right to.
   - _The mayor agreed to surrender his powers to an interim council._
   - _They surrendered their rights to the disputed land._
6. To let oneself be carried along by an emotion, passion, or other influence and stop resisting it.
   - Simple: To let a strong feeling completely take over you.
   - _He finally surrendered to his curiosity and opened the letter._
   - _She let herself surrender to the music, allowing it to sweep her away._
8. To voluntarily end an insurance contract before its term is up, usually expecting to receive a surrender value.
   - Simple: To end an insurance policy early, often to get some money back.
   - _The client decided to surrender the policy after ten years of payments._
   - _He surrendered his endowment plan to access the cash value._
9. In blackjack, to give up one's hand and recover half of the original bet.
   - Simple: In blackjack, to give up your hand and get back half of your bet.
   - _Experienced players will surrender a hard sixteen against a dealer's ten._
   - _He chose to surrender the hand instead of hitting against a strong dealer card._

## Noun

4. The act of giving oneself up, of submitting into another's possession, or of complete resignation.
   - Simple: The act of giving yourself up or giving in to someone or something.
   - _The enemy's surrender was unconditional._
   - _Her quiet surrender to grief worried her friends._
7. An act in which someone complies with a demand by handing over something they possess.
   - Simple: The act of handing something over because someone has demanded it.
   - _The treaty required the surrender of all heavy weapons._
   - _The judge ordered the surrender of the defendant's passport pending trial._
10. In property law, the yielding of a leasehold estate by the tenant to the landlord, so that the tenancy merges into the landlord's interest and ceases to exist.
   - Simple: In law, the giving back of a lease by a tenant to the landlord so the lease ends.
   - _The early surrender of the lease was recorded in a formal deed._
   - _A surrender of the tenancy extinguished the tenant's remaining obligations._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3, 5–6, 8–9** — From Middle English surrendren, from Old French surrendre, formed from sur- plus rendre ("render"). It replaced the native Old English on hand gān.
**Meanings 4, 7, 10** — From Middle English surrendre, from Anglo-Norman surrendre, the infinitive used as a noun. It replaced the native Old English handgang.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/surrender (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).