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

See Examples For:

high and dry

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

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 25, 2026

Students using an e-learning website have been left "high and dry" after the company running it went into administration.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2025

Others in the community have left out water to help coyotes, birds and “any poor wildlife” left high and dry by the Eaton fire, she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 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 can’t wear the ruffled things, I’d look like a cabbage, and not the strapless ones either, not with my collarbone high and dry, my hen’s-foot elbows sticking out.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

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