leave someone in the lurch
(Redirected from leave in the lurch)
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit](This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]leave someone in the lurch (third-person singular simple present leaves someone in the lurch, present participle leaving someone in the lurch, simple past and past participle left someone in the lurch)
- (idiomatic) To abandon somebody; especially, to abandon somebody and leave him or her in a difficult situation.
- He left me in the lurch and I had to finish the whole project by myself.
- 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “Canto III”, in Hudibras. The First Part. […], London: […] J. G. for Richard Marriot, […], →OCLC, page 103:
- And though th'art of a diff'rent Church, / I will not leave thee in the lurch.
- 2021 May 2, Janine Brito & Jeremy Rowley, “The Drincan Temple” (15:51 from the start), in Bless the Harts[1], season 2, episode 19, spoken by Wayne Edwards (Ike Barinholtz):
- “Wayne, bro, I am so sorry. Wayne, I said I'm sorry.” “I heard you. I just was trying to figure out if you're apologizing for this or-or for a whole lifetime of leaving me in the lurch. But then again, I'm the dumbass for thinking you've grown up.” “Serious?” “Serious.”
- 2024 October 7, Kim Willsher, “Large French Alpine ski resort to close in face of shrinking snow season”, in The Guardian[2], →ISSN:
- Frédérique Laurence, the owner of a grocery shop in La Morte, added: “We’ve been left completely in the lurch. We still have loans to pay as we’ve only been here four years. Who will pay them? Our lives have been ruined. That’s what is going to happen to us.”
Synonyms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to abandon somebody and leave him or her in a difficult situation
|