. giveaway - something that is given away free, an act of giving something away, an unintential betrayal of a secret or repressed feeling or plan Our supervisor's speech was a giveaway. Now, I know that he is planning to retire. given to understand (something) - to understand something plainly and clearly I was given to understand that I could rent an apartment very cheaply in this area. glad hand - to shake hands in a friendly way The politician likes to glad hand people at the shopping center. gloss (something) over - to try to make what is wrong or bad seem unimportant, to hide something The.