leave to someone's tender mercies
Submit to another's power or discretion, especially to an unsympathetic individual. Today this expression is always used ironically, as in We left him to the tender mercies of that stiff-necked, arrogant nurse. It alludes to a biblical passage (Proverbs 12:10): “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”
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Words nearby leave to someone's tender mercies
leave someone in the lurch, leave someone to his or her resources, leave-taking, leave the door open, leave to someone's own devices, leave to someone's tender mercies, Leave well enough alone, leave without a leg to stand on, leave word, leaving, leavings
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.