lost in the sauce

Adjective

lost in the sauce (not comparable)

1. (US, slang) Out of it, lost, e.g. due to intoxication, aimlessness, or being bewildered or distracted.
   • Our talks over shots of Patrón is what I will miss most. You can't sit and have intellectual, intelligent conversations with some woman in our generation. They are still lost in the sauce and looking for purpose.2020, Sherika Moore, Black Love, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
   • As soon as Troy saw Jermel the next day, he went at him. “Dogg, what type of crash [is] dummy on?” “Ain't nobody crashing! You just been lost in the sauce, dogg. I handled what needed ta be handled.”2021, Tee, Trailblazing, Fulton Books, Inc.
2. (US, slang) Lost; lost in the shuffle; allowed to slip through the cracks.
   • And because of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the nation's attention was focused elsewhere and reparations just got lost in the sauce, so to speak.2007, Michael T. Martin, Marilyn Yaquinto, Redress for Historical Injustices in the United States: On Reparations for Slavery, Jim Crow, and Their Legacies, Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 432
   • He concluded on this note, expressing his concern that the students who escape the attention of their teachers get “lost in the sauce.” Reflecting out loud about the student I was working with, he confided to me, “I think Jared gets ...2009, Judd Kruger Levingston, Sowing the Seeds of Character: The Moral Education of Adolescents in Public and Private Schools: The Moral Education of Adolescents in Public and Private Schools...
3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lost, sauce.
   • Cooking Suggestion To prevent the cheese from getting lost in the sauce or burning, always add the sliced or shredded cheese at the end of the cooking.2010, Nadejda Reilly, Ukrainian Cuisine with an American Touch and Ingredients, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 273
   • The flesh of the lamprey is fragile and can get lost in the sauce if the dish is stirred while cooking, which we'd been warned against in our session. The taste is often described as also “delicate.”2012, G. Y. Dryansky, Joanne Dryansky, Coquilles, Calva, & Crème: Exploring France's Culinary Heritage: A Love Affair with French Food, Open Road Media, →ISBN