to give and take
Preserved but no longer current.
To be fair; in intercourse with others to practise forbearance and consideration. In horse-racing a give and take plate is a prize for a race in which the runners which exceed a standard height carry more, and those that come short of it less, than the standard weight.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to give and take” mean?
To be fair; in intercourse with others to practise forbearance and consideration. In horse-racing a give and take plate is a prize for a race in which the runners which exceed a standard height carry more, and those that come short of it less, than the standard weight.
Is “to give and take” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.