leave someone in the lurch

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

leave someone in the lurch (third-person singular simple present leaves someone in the lurch, present participle leaving someone in the lurch, simple past and past participle left someone in the lurch)

1. (idiomatic) To abandon somebody; especially, to abandon somebody and leave him or her in a difficult situation.

   He left me in the lurch and I had to finish the whole project by myself.

   • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “Canto III”, in Hudibras. The First Part. […], London: […] J. G. for Richard Marriot, […], →OCLC, page 103:

     And though th'art of a diff'rent Church, / I will not leave thee in the lurch.

   • 2024 October 7, Kim Willsher, “Large French Alpine ski resort to close in face of shrinking snow season”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Frédérique Laurence, the owner of a grocery shop in La Morte, added: “We’ve been left completely in the lurch. We still have loans to pay as we’ve only been here four years. Who will pay them? Our lives have been ruined. That’s what is going to happen to us.”

Synonyms

• leave someone holding the bag
• leave someone high and dry
• bilk

Translations

to abandon somebody and leave him or her in a difficult situation

• Czech: nechat ve štychu
• Esperanto: forlasis iun en malfacila situacio
• Finnish: jättää pulaan
• French: planter (fr), planter là
• German: im Stich lassen (de), sitzen lassen, im Regen stehen lassen
• Hungarian: cserben hagy (hu), pácban hagy, benne hagy a pácban, magára hagy, sorsára hagy, benne hagy a csávában, benne hagy a slamasztikában
• Irish: fág san abar, fág Baile Átha Cliath ar an mbóthar ag duine
• Italian: lasciare in asso, piantare in asso
• Norwegian: la i stikken
• Russian: оста́вить на произво́л судьбы́ pf (ostávitʹ na proizvól sudʹbý)
• Spanish: dejar tirado, dejar en la estacada, dejar con los crespos hechos, dejar plantado
• Swedish: lämna i sticket (sv)
• Turkish: ortada bırakmak (tr), ortada komak