high and dry

Idioms  

1. Stranded, as in They walked out on the party, leaving me high and dry. This expression originally alluded to a ship that had run aground or was in dry dock. Its figurative use dates from the late 1800s.

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Example Sentences

And he does not want to leave his clients high and dry should he die unexpectedly.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 25, 2026

"Social care has been left high and dry" by last year's NI changes, says John Paddick.

From BBC • Nov. 26, 2025

Playing an unnamed surfer stuck high and dry atop a parched parking lot, Cage stares down at the waves below with the thirst of a battered cartoon coyote.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2025

The land is high and dry, the ground rocky and inhospitable — not like the rainy coastal Northwest, where trees grow thick and fast.

From New York Times • Apr. 4, 2024

I tell him everything worked just like he said it would, and the Mary Rose is high and dry, but now I’m stumped.

From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick