Give yourself away

Give yourself away is an idiom that originated in the United States. We will examine the meaning of the common saying give yourself away, where it came from, and some examples of its idiomatic usage in sentences.

To give yourself away means to reveal yourself unintentionally, to expose your true feelings or intentions without meaning to. The expression is also used to mean to expose a secret about other things or people, as in to give something away or to give someone away. Related phrases are gives something away, gave something away, given something away, giving something away. The expression to give yourself away came into use in the 1870s in the United States as a slang phrase. Give yourself away may also mean to give of one’s time and treasure selflessly.

Examples

And if you are caught, play dumb, know nothing, don’t give yourself away.  (National Catholic Reporter)

Netflix documentary, American Murder: The Family Next Door tells the disturbing story of Chris Watts, who killed his wife and two young daughters – body language expert Bruce Durham examines how he gave himself away. (Mirror)

In my landscaping days, it was the wheat nubuck Carolina’s, dyed forest green from the nonstop barrage of wet grass clippings from my lawnmower that distinguished me as someone who worked outside with their hands (the grubby T shirt also most likely gave it away). (Martha’s Vineyard Times)