"throw someone a rope" meaning in English

See throw someone a rope in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: throws someone a rope [present, singular, third-person], throwing someone a rope [participle, present], threw someone a rope [past], thrown someone a rope [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|<,,threw,thrown>}} throw someone a rope (third-person singular simple present throws someone a rope, present participle throwing someone a rope, simple past threw someone a rope, past participle thrown someone a rope)
  1. (idiomatic) To rescue someone by providing them with help, such as material aid, financial aid, a face-saving excuse, or a clue. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: save someone's life, save someone's skin, save someone's bacon, pull someone's bacon out of the fire, give someone a hand, lend a hand, bail out Coordinate_terms: throw someone a bone, give someone a break
    Sense id: en-throw_someone_a_rope-en-verb-en:help_someone Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 62 38 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 66 34 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 69 31
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: to rescue someone from drowning by tossing a rope for them to grab onto and be dragged to safety. Related terms: give someone enough rope, life buoy, lifesaver
    Sense id: en-throw_someone_a_rope-en-verb-en:literal Categories (other): &lit not valid pagename
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
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          "_dis": "62 38",
          "kind": "other",
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          "_dis": "66 34",
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        {
          "word": "throw someone a bone"
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          "word": "give someone a break"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: save someone's life, save someone's skin, save someone's bacon, pull someone's bacon out of the fire, give someone a hand, lend a hand, bail someone out"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              56,
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          "text": "He's out there making a fool of himself. Someone should throw him a rope.",
          "type": "example"
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        {
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              0,
              15
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          "ref": "2011, Gillian Welch, “The Way It Will Be”, in The Harrow & the Harvest, performed by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings:",
          "text": "Throw me a rope\n On the rolling tide\n What did you want it to be?\n You said it's him or me\n The way you made it\n That's the way it will be",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To rescue someone by providing them with help, such as material aid, financial aid, a face-saving excuse, or a clue."
      ],
      "id": "en-throw_someone_a_rope-en-verb-en:help_someone",
      "links": [
        [
          "rescue",
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        [
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        ],
        [
          "material",
          "material"
        ],
        [
          "financial",
          "financial"
        ],
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          "face-saving",
          "face-saving"
        ],
        [
          "clue",
          "clue"
        ]
      ],
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        "(idiomatic) To rescue someone by providing them with help, such as material aid, financial aid, a face-saving excuse, or a clue."
      ],
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        "en:help someone"
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          "word": "save someone's life"
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        {
          "word": "save someone's skin"
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        {
          "word": "save someone's bacon"
        },
        {
          "word": "pull someone's bacon out of the fire"
        },
        {
          "word": "give someone a hand"
        },
        {
          "word": "lend a hand"
        },
        {
          "word": "bail out"
        }
      ],
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          "text": "He's out there fighting the riptide. We need to throw him a rope.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: to rescue someone from drowning by tossing a rope for them to grab onto and be dragged to safety."
      ],
      "id": "en-throw_someone_a_rope-en-verb-en:literal",
      "links": [
        [
          "rescue",
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        ],
        [
          "drowning",
          "drowning"
        ],
        [
          "toss",
          "toss#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "rope",
          "rope"
        ],
        [
          "grab",
          "grab"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "word": "give someone enough rope"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "word": "life buoy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 100",
          "word": "lifesaver"
        }
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  "word": "throw someone a rope"
}
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    {
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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      "word": "give someone enough rope"
    },
    {
      "word": "life buoy"
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      "word": "lifesaver"
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          "word": "throw someone a bone"
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        {
          "word": "give someone a break"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: save someone's life, save someone's skin, save someone's bacon, pull someone's bacon out of the fire, give someone a hand, lend a hand, bail someone out"
        },
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              56,
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          "ref": "2011, Gillian Welch, “The Way It Will Be”, in The Harrow & the Harvest, performed by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings:",
          "text": "Throw me a rope\n On the rolling tide\n What did you want it to be?\n You said it's him or me\n The way you made it\n That's the way it will be",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To rescue someone by providing them with help, such as material aid, financial aid, a face-saving excuse, or a clue."
      ],
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        [
          "rescue",
          "rescue#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "help",
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        ],
        [
          "material",
          "material"
        ],
        [
          "financial",
          "financial"
        ],
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          "face-saving",
          "face-saving"
        ],
        [
          "clue",
          "clue"
        ]
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        "(idiomatic) To rescue someone by providing them with help, such as material aid, financial aid, a face-saving excuse, or a clue."
      ],
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        "en:help someone"
      ],
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        {
          "word": "save someone's life"
        },
        {
          "word": "save someone's skin"
        },
        {
          "word": "save someone's bacon"
        },
        {
          "word": "pull someone's bacon out of the fire"
        },
        {
          "word": "give someone a hand"
        },
        {
          "word": "lend a hand"
        },
        {
          "word": "bail out"
        }
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      ],
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        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: to rescue someone from drowning by tossing a rope for them to grab onto and be dragged to safety."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "rescue",
          "rescue#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "drowning",
          "drowning"
        ],
        [
          "toss",
          "toss#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "rope",
          "rope"
        ],
        [
          "grab",
          "grab"
        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:literal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "throw someone a rope"
}

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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 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). 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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