desert a sinking ship

Idioms

Abandon a failing enterprise before it is too late. For example, After seeing the company's financial statement, he knew it was time to desert a sinking ship. This metaphoric expression alludes to rats, which leave a vessel when it founders in a storm or runs aground so as to escape drowning. It was transferred to human behavior by about 1600.

Example Sentences

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desert a sinking ship

The first to desert a sinking ship is the first to discover the ship is sinking.

From Time Magazine Archive

If rats desert a sinking ship, mice teem over this one.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sailors tell us that the rats desert a sinking ship.

From Verner's Pride by Mrs. Henry Wood

It isn't only the rats that desert a sinking ship; so does anyone else who has any sense.

From A Spaceship Named McGuire by Randall Garrett

It is a generally well-founded belief among sailors that rats will desert a sinking ship.

From The Story of a Strange Career Being the Autobiography of a Convict; an Authentic Document by Anonymous

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023