hang out to dry

1. Abandon someone to danger, as in The squadron withdrew and just let us hang out to dry. This expression alludes to hanging wet laundry on a clothesline. [Slang; 1960s]

Example Sentences

“I was really stuck back, because you don’t want to leave your elbow to hang out to dry, basically.”

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"This administration left them to hang out to dry horribly," John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, told Fox News.

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“We let him hang out to dry again. We can sit here and talk about it, but we’ve been talking about it for a while now.”

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“He thought it was selfish,” said Josh Holmes, Mr. McConnell’s top political adviser, recalling the lawmaker’s reaction to Mr. Ryan’s announcement: “If he wanted to leave, he could leave after the election. He let all his guys hang out to dry.”

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“They’ve all expressed that basically DJ is getting made to hang out to dry and that some of these so-called athletes are looking for participation trophies. Life is not about participation. It’s about learning life skills. DJ has been a great teacher of those.”

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