To throw in the towel is to admit defeat and give up. Ready to throw in the towel, threw in the towel, never throw in the towel.
It comes from boxing, where a fighter's corner throws a towel into the ring to stop the fight. The point is that somebody else stops it, which is why the phrase carries a note of mercy as well as of surrender.
1phrasethrow in the towelTo admit defeat and give up, as a boxer's corner does.
“After three failed attempts to start the business, he was ready to throw in the towel.”
throw in the towel is a surrendering.
From boxing, where a fighter's corner throws a towel into the ring to stop the contest.
From the traditional signal from a boxer's support staff of throwing such an item into a boxing ring to indicate that the contestant cannot continue the match and is forfeiting to the opponent.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Idioms