Also used: leave someone out to dry
Meaning of Idiom ‘Hang Someone Out To Dry’
To hang someone out to dry means to not support or help someone when they need it; to abandon someone who is in a vulnerable or difficult situation; to let someone take the blame or bear the consequences for something when they are not solely responsible; to abandon someone when they are in trouble.
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Usage Notes
To hang someone out to dry usually has the connotation of betrayal.
You don’t just hang a stranger out to dry but someone to whom you owe at least a small amount of allegiance, a colleague or friend; perhaps even a co-conspirator.
This idiom is often over-used in mundane situations when one person disappoints another.
Examples Of Use
“The talk show co-host feels she was hung out to dry over a heated argument that occurred on-air between her and a fellow host.”
“That client belonged to both of us and you didn’t help at all. Don’t hang me out to dry after you dropped the ball. I didn’t lose him alone!”
“His parents were going to pay for his college but when they found out he was gay, they hung him out to dry.”
“Our air support hung us out to dry on that ridge.”
Origin
Used since the 1960s, there are two competing origin theories for this idiom.
The most common explanation is that it alludes to hanging clothing outside on a clothesline to dry, leaving them flapping uselessly and helplessly in the wind.
Another connotation is that the clothes are left to the elements which can damage them. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English idioms, a cricketing metaphor, hanging your bat out to dry, has a similar origin.
The other theory is that this idiom derived from the practice of hanging an animal carcass in a tree to allow the meat to dry.
More Idioms Starting with H
More Dry Idioms
More Hang Idioms
- Low-Hanging Fruit
- Have Something Hanging Over Your Head
- Hang Tough
- Hang One’s Head
- Hang On (or hang on to)
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