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leave to someone's own devices

Idioms  

  1. Allow someone to do as he or she wishes. For example, Left to his own devices, he would hire someone to do the yard work. This expression, uses device in the sense of “a plan or scheme.” [Late 1800s]

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

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.