Dictionary

gift that keeps on giving en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

The disease sense is by irony.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) Something with ongoing consequences; usually, one with positive ongoing consequences.
   • Those flower bulbs that our neighbor gave us are a gift that keeps on giving — they keep blooming year after year.
2. (idiomatic, slang) Something with ongoing consequences; usually, one with positive ongoing consequences. ▸ A sexually transmitted disease.
   • Maybe I was lucky that we did not get together, who knows, maybe she would have given me the gift that keeps on giving. 2007, R.H.B. Jackson, Dad and Me, page 462:
   • That one-night stand that some tramp gave him is a gift that keeps on giving — he's had syphilis for years now.
   • She fell for his soulful tenor playing, so she gave him the gift that keeps on giving — the clap. 2006, Jeannie Cheatham, Meet Me with Your Black Drawers On: My Life in Music, page 130:
   • “You gave me the gift that keeps on giving!” […] “The old man gave Sebastian herpes!” 2010, Michael Salvatore, Between Boyfriends, page 184:
   • Plus, there's about a 25% chance that you now have the gift that keeps on giving, an STD. 2007, Doug Giles, A Time to Clash: Papers from a Provocative Pastor, page 202:

Forms

wikidata: Q12198