Give and take is the mutual yielding that keeps a relationship working. A bit of give and take, needs give and take, give and take on both sides.
It is the standard advice about marriages and about negotiations alike, and it names a habit rather than any one concession. The phrase dates from the eighteenth century.
1phrasegive and takeThe mutual yielding that keeps a relationship working.
“Any marriage needs a bit of give and take.”
give and take is a compromise.
From the plain pairing of the two verbs, first recorded in this sense around 1769.
First use appears c. 1769. See cite below.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Idioms