> So you're saying I should just **throw in the towel** and do whatever > they want? > **throw in the towel** or less commonly **throw in the sponge** (phrase) > > To abandon a struggle or contest : acknowledge defeat : **give up** >[M-W][1] > **throw in the towel** (idiom) > >To stop trying to do something because you have realized that you > cannot succeed > >*Three of the original five candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination have **now thrown in the towel**.* >[Cambridge][2] > **to throw (chuck**, or **toss) in the towel** > > To admit defeat. Originally *Boxing*. > > **1915** In the nineteenth round Storbeck's seconds ‘**threw the towel**’ in literally. > E. Corri, *Thirty Years Boxing Referee* 223 > > **1923** He had found the going too hard and had **chucked in the towel**. >P. G. Wodehouse, *Inimitable Jeeves* xv. 192 >[OED online] [1]: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/throw%20in%20the%20towel [2]: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/throw-in-the-towel#google_vignette