"To throw up" - US and other non-UK usage
A student of English recently found in a dictionary the verb "to throw up" used as a synonym for "to resign" e.g. a job. I have never heard it used to mean this so wanted to check if it is used in this way in any other English-speaking countries. To me "throw up" means "to vomit". You can also "throw up your hands". Any help appreciated. Thanks, Michael

Question

"To throw up" - US and other non-UK usage
A student of English recently found in a dictionary the verb "to throw up" used as a synonym for "to resign" e.g. a job.  I have never heard it used to mean this so wanted to check if it is used in this way in any other English-speaking countries. To me "throw up" means "to vomit".  You can also "throw up your hands".  Any help appreciated.  Thanks, Michael

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Well I am from the United States and have even been around the country a bit and I have never heard it used in that way.

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Thanks for this, T.J.The usage is the same and as it happens, I came up with exactly the same alternatives.  Nice to know we're speaking the same language - at least most of the time!.

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I've never heard it used that way. To me, "throw up" is synonymous for "vomit." Doing a quick search yielded a definition from the Merriam-Webster and Cambridge dictionaries online. M-W: "2. Give up, quit." Cambridge: "UK informal - If you throw up your job, you choose to leave it or stop doing it."

However, like I said before, I've never heard it used that way. For resigning from work, the most common expressions I've heard are "left" and "quit."