leave someone high and dry

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

leave someone high and dry (third-person singular simple present leaves someone high and dry, present participle leaving someone high and dry, simple past and past participle left someone high and dry)

1. (idiomatic) To abandon somebody; to stop providing assistance at a crucial moment.

   He just walked out and left her high and dry with two kids and a mortgage.

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 76, 77:

     When the Met first reached Chesham, in 1889, the townsfolk thought the growth of their town would be inexorable as a result. [...] The cry went up 'At last, we are on the main line!' And so they were - for three years, until the Met decided to carry on to Amersham, leaving Chesham high and dry on a branch.

Translations

Translations

• Azerbaijani: çöldə qoymaq
• German: hängenlassen
• Greek: αφήνω αμανάτι (el) (afíno amanáti)
• Spanish: dejar tirado
• Turkish: dımdızlak ortalıkta bırakmak

See also

• leave someone in the lurch
• leave to one's own devices
• leave someone hanging
• hang out to dry