Give Up The Ghost Meaning

(intransitive, with of) To cede a commitment to or identification with.

Example: 1611, King James Bible, Mark 15:37
  And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
  My old computer finally gave up the ghost the other day.
1993 February 8, “A Magical History Tour”, Time:
  But McCartney, 50, is hardly ready to give up the ghost of his creative past.
1995, Bad Boys
Burnett holds the door while Lowrey holds Francine. She's broken, crying, and giving up the ghost of her past.
2000 January 14, Kevin Maney, “Gates closes an era Microsoft prepares to lay out a road map”, USA Today:
  Its Windows CE, ostensibly for consumer electronics, is flailing, largely because Microsoft has taken a PC mentality to develop CE, unable to give up the ghost of its heritage.