Word.ws English Dictionary

leaving someone holding the baby

leaving someone holding the baby is the present participle and gerund of leave someone holding the baby.

Meaning of leave someone holding the baby

Verb

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.
    • 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.2003, Vincent Roth, A Life in Guyana: The Later Years, 1923-1935, Peepal Tree, published 2003, →ISBN, page 160
    Synonyms:
    leave somebody in the lurch, leave someone holding the bag

Questions about leaving someone holding the baby

What is leaving someone holding the baby the present participle and gerund of?
Leaving someone holding the baby is the present participle and gerund of leave someone holding the baby.

Words near leaving someone holding the baby in the dictionary

  1. leaving shop
  2. leaving shops
  3. leaving someone cold
  4. leaving someone hanging
  5. leaving someone high and dry
  6. leaving someone holding the baby
  7. leaving someone in the dust
  8. leaving someone in the lurch
  9. leaving someone no choice
  10. leaving someone on read
  11. leaving someone on seen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leaving someone holding the baby (page history and authors); leave someone holding the baby (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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