Idioms beginning with leave
Idioms
allow us to communicate clearly even while using words that have nothing to do with our
meaning. My American Idioms
Dictionary,
for instance, lists twenty-one idioms beginning with the word leave, covering the better part of two
pages. Oddly, most idioms’ origins are shaded in mystery. Three of the six
idioms below are legitimate. Three are manufactured. See if you can determine
the faux origins (answers are in the comments section).
Leave no stone unturned (1700s) Based on the behavior of a North American
bird, the ruddy turnstone, which is surprisingly diligent in its efforts to
turn over stones to find food.
Leave someone high & dry (1700s) When a ship was run aground or
caught on land due to a dropping tide, it was left high and dry.
Leave well enough alone (1400s) The old Scottish game Twibbits involved
flipping discs, the goal being to place one’s disc as far from others’ discs as
possible, yet near the goal. The winner was said to be left alone, but if two
throws tied, the round was judged well enough alone, a term equal to
our modern good enough.
Leave someone holding the bag (1700s) This idiom comes from a hazing game
much like a snipe hunt, in which a gullible individual is sent up into the
hills with a bag while his/her tormenters claim they’ll drive the elusive snipe
out of the bushes & into the bag, but instead, have a good laugh at the
expense of their innocent victim.
Leave someone in the lurch (1500s) This idiom has its origins in a French
cribbage-like game called lourche in
which a player was said to be left in the
lurch when s/he was put in a hopeless position.
Leave someone out in the cold (1500s) When the portcullis of a castle or
other fortified building was lowered at dusk, members of the household were
sometimes left out in the cold.
Please
consider which three seem most authentic, then check answers in the comments section
& let us all know how you did.
My thanks go out to this week’s
sources: OED, Phrase Finder, NTC’s American Idioms Dictionary, & Etymonline