sucking the mop

Verb

suck the mop (third-person singular simple present sucks the mop, present participle sucking the mop, simple past and past participle sucked the mop)

1. (idiomatic, slang) To be left in a disadvantageous position.
   • Kathy says Much obliged, but what I don't appreciate about this piece of moral news is the pairing of successful writer with sexy hotshot lit prof, which leaves us pregnant librarians and failed playwrights sucking the mop.1987, John Barth, The Tidewater Tales, page 426
2. (UK, idiomatic, obsolete, slang) Of a bus: to be deliberately boxed in by another so as to lose the opportunity to pick up passengers.
   • "Now then, poppy-head:" — this to the conductor of a rival omnibus before us — "how long am I to go on sucking the mop?"1867, Banter, number 1, page 81