gimme

Written form of a reduction of give me.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɪmiː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪmi

gimme

1. (colloquial) Give me.

   Gimme the ball.

   • 1979, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson (lyrics and music), “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”, in Voulez-Vous, performed by ABBA:

     Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight / Won't somebody help me chase the shadows away?

   • 1983, Gordon Gano (lyrics and music), “Gimme the Car”, in Violent Femmes, performed by Violent Femmes:

     Come on, Dad / Gimme the car tonight / I got this girl, I wanna…

• lemme

gimme (plural gimmes)

1. (colloquial) That which is easy to perform or obtain, especially in sports.
   • 2021 October 12, Jamie Lyall, “Faroe Islands 0-1 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎:

     You have to swipe along to page three of Fifa's world rankings before catching sight of the Faroe Islands, perched in 114th place, nearly 70 spots below Scotland. But under Hakan Ericson, they no longer represent the gimme fixture most in world football once reckoned them to be.

   1. (golf) A tap-in putt, usually a couple inches from the cup.

      Don't count two strokes for that — it was a gimme: if I wasn't holding the flag with my other hand for the next players waiting for the hole, it would have gone in.

   2. That which is simply given away for nothing; a freebie.
      • 2008 April 1, Alan Axelrod, PhD, Guy Antinozzi, J.D., The Complete Idiot's Guide to Campus Safety: Essential Safety Tips Every College Student Should Know, Penguin, →ISBN, page 88:

        The Trojan horse gimme typically arrives as an e-mail attachment promising something for nothing (that is, a “gimme”)—maybe a fun free screen saver, […]

      • 2012 November 28, R. Crafton Gibbs, Eternal Life with God: Logos 1, of Writing God's Book of Life, R. Crafton Gibbs / Google Books Play, →ISBN, page 181:

        Our first answered prayer is Salvation—the entry of Christ— but that is a “gimme,” it is a “freebie,” for God has already answered this prayer for everyone, even before he or she asks.

2. That which is certain; that which is sure to be the case.
   • 2009 March 12, Brian Coleman, Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies, Villard, →ISBN, page 332:

     Imani: Well, yeah, I was smoking a lot of weed back then, that's a gimme. At the Manor it was really just smoking. Stress smoking. We didn't have no chronic at the time—there were some mushrooms here and there.

   • 2011 08, David Carter, The Murder Diaries - Seven Times Over: Seven Times Over, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 182:

     Didn't wear any rings, and if she had worn some, they would have contained purple stones, that was a gimme. A nightmarish thought flashed through his head. Him waking on a Sunday morning, finding Cresta there in his bed beside him, […]

   • 2019 March 3, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, “When Did Everyone Become a Socialist?”, in New York Magazine‎:

     The staid and uncool Democratic Establishment, by blowing a gimme election, had discredited itself.

• gimme a break
• gimme a five
• gimme cap
• gimme hat
• gimme some skin

• wannabe