gifting








noun

  1. something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
  2. the act of giving.
  3. something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned: Those extra points he got in the game were a total gift.
  4. a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent: the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.

verb (used with object)

  1. to present with as a gift; bestow gifts upon; endow with.
  2. to present (someone) with a gift: just the thing to gift the newlyweds.

n acronym for

  1. gamete intrafallopian transfer: a technique, similar to in vitro fertilization, that enables some women who are unable to conceive to bear children. Egg cells are removed from the woman’s ovary, mixed with sperm, and introduced into one of her Fallopian tubes

noun

  1. something given; a present
  2. a special aptitude, ability, or power; talent
  3. the power or right to give or bestow (esp in the phrases in the gift of, in (someone’s) gift)
  4. the act or process of giving
  5. look a gift-horse in the mouth (usually negative) to find fault with a free gift or chance benefit

verb (tr)

  1. to present (something) as a gift to (a person)
  2. (often foll by with) to present (someone) with a gift
  3. rare to endow with; bestow
n.

mid-13c. (c.1100 in surnames), from a Scandinavian source, cf. Old Norse gift, gipt “gift, good luck,” from Proto-Germanic *giftiz (cf. Old Saxon gift, Old Frisian jefte, Middle Dutch ghifte “gift,” German Mitgift “dowry”), from PIE root *ghabh- “to give or receive” (see habit).

For German Gift “poison,” see poison (n.). Old English cognate gift meant “bride-price, marriage gift (by the groom), dowry” (Old English noun for “giving, gift” was related giefu). Sense of “natural talent” is c.1300, perhaps from earlier sense of “inspiration” (late 12c.). As a verb from 16c., especially in gifted. As a verb, giftwrap (also gift-wrap) attested by 1936.

In addition to the idiom beginning with gift

  • gift of gab

also see:

  • look a gift horse in the mouth
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