deixar na mão

Portuguese

Meaning

to leave in the lurch, to let someone down

Example

Precisava tanto daquele dinheiro que emprestei ao meu sobrinho, ele me deixou na mão!

I needed that money so much that I lent it to my nephew, he let me down!

Origin

The picture in deixar na mão ("to leave in the hand") is the mirror image of lending a hand: someone holds out an open hand for the help they were promised, and the other person walks away, leaving them with nothing but their own outstretched hand.

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More idioms

dar um geloto give the cold shoulder descascar o abacaxito handle a hot potato, to deal with a tough problem encher linguiçato beat around the bush, to pad out engolir sapoto eat crow, to swallow one's pride estar com a faca e o queijo na mãoto have the upper hand, to hold all the aces