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 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