"leave someone holding the baby" meaning in English

See leave someone holding the baby in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: En-au-leave someone holding the baby.ogg Forms: leaves someone holding the baby [present, singular, third-person], leaving someone holding the baby [participle, present], left someone holding the baby [participle, past], left someone holding the baby [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|leave<,,left> someone holding the baby}} leave someone holding the baby (third-person singular simple present leaves someone holding the baby, present participle leaving someone holding the baby, simple past and past participle left someone holding the baby)
  1. (idiomatic) To abandon someone and put them in a position where they must take the responsibility or blame. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: leave somebody in the lurch, leave someone holding the bag
    Sense id: en-leave_someone_holding_the_baby-en-verb-acvtD2Sf Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "leaves someone holding the baby",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "leaving someone holding the baby",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "left someone holding the baby",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "left someone holding the baby",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "leave<,,left> someone holding the baby"
      },
      "expansion": "leave someone holding the baby (third-person singular simple present leaves someone holding the baby, present participle leaving someone holding the baby, simple past and past participle left someone holding the baby)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Vincent Roth, A Life in Guyana: The Later Years, 1923-1935, Peepal Tree, published 2003, →ISBN, page 160:",
          "text": "He said he was very uneasy as the schooner owner owed him over $500 and he couldn't get a cent and feared that the owners had gone bankrupt and left him holding the baby.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Mark Osborne, How to Cheat at Managing Information Security, Syngress Publishing, Inc., published 2006, →ISBN, page 125:",
          "text": "This statement might sound lame, but operations and network management will try to squeeze everything into one domestic home firewall hanging off a small DSL line. Then they will leave you holding the baby.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Adrian Arnold, The Internet for the Older and Wiser: Get Up and Running Safely on the Web, John Wiley & Sons, published 2009, →ISBN, page 181:",
          "text": "With many of these seized goods auctions condition is everything and I would recommend that, having checked out the goods online, you go to the auction house and view the lots. You will not only get to see the goods themselves but you can find out a lot about the auctioneers themselves. They may be well-established businesses but others could be fly-by-nights and gone the next morning, leaving you holding the baby.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To abandon someone and put them in a position where they must take the responsibility or blame."
      ],
      "id": "en-leave_someone_holding_the_baby-en-verb-acvtD2Sf",
      "links": [
        [
          "abandon",
          "abandon"
        ],
        [
          "responsibility",
          "responsibility"
        ],
        [
          "blame",
          "blame"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To abandon someone and put them in a position where they must take the responsibility or blame."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "leave somebody in the lurch"
        },
        {
          "word": "leave someone holding the bag"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-leave someone holding the baby.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/En-au-leave_someone_holding_the_baby.ogg/En-au-leave_someone_holding_the_baby.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/En-au-leave_someone_holding_the_baby.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "leave someone holding the baby"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "leaves someone holding the baby",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "leaving someone holding the baby",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "left someone holding the baby",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "left someone holding the baby",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "leave<,,left> someone holding the baby"
      },
      "expansion": "leave someone holding the baby (third-person singular simple present leaves someone holding the baby, present participle leaving someone holding the baby, simple past and past participle left someone holding the baby)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Vincent Roth, A Life in Guyana: The Later Years, 1923-1935, Peepal Tree, published 2003, →ISBN, page 160:",
          "text": "He said he was very uneasy as the schooner owner owed him over $500 and he couldn't get a cent and feared that the owners had gone bankrupt and left him holding the baby.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Mark Osborne, How to Cheat at Managing Information Security, Syngress Publishing, Inc., published 2006, →ISBN, page 125:",
          "text": "This statement might sound lame, but operations and network management will try to squeeze everything into one domestic home firewall hanging off a small DSL line. Then they will leave you holding the baby.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Adrian Arnold, The Internet for the Older and Wiser: Get Up and Running Safely on the Web, John Wiley & Sons, published 2009, →ISBN, page 181:",
          "text": "With many of these seized goods auctions condition is everything and I would recommend that, having checked out the goods online, you go to the auction house and view the lots. You will not only get to see the goods themselves but you can find out a lot about the auctioneers themselves. They may be well-established businesses but others could be fly-by-nights and gone the next morning, leaving you holding the baby.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To abandon someone and put them in a position where they must take the responsibility or blame."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "abandon",
          "abandon"
        ],
        [
          "responsibility",
          "responsibility"
        ],
        [
          "blame",
          "blame"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To abandon someone and put them in a position where they must take the responsibility or blame."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-leave someone holding the baby.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/31/En-au-leave_someone_holding_the_baby.ogg/En-au-leave_someone_holding_the_baby.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/En-au-leave_someone_holding_the_baby.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "leave somebody in the lurch"
    },
    {
      "word": "leave someone holding the bag"
    }
  ],
  "word": "leave someone holding the baby"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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