enough rope, to give (someone)

enough rope, to give (someone)

To allow someone to continue behaving badly until he or she reaps the consequences. The rope in question alludes to enough rope to hang oneself, which is how the phrase is often completed. It was well enough known by the mid-seventeenth century to appear in four slightly different forms in John Ray’s English Proverbs (1678), the most common being “Give him rope enough and he’ll hang himself.”
See also: enough, give
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • skip rope
  • skipping rope
  • rope
  • rope or an animal up
  • rope up
  • rope together
  • tug of war
  • take (a)hold of (someone or something)
  • take hold of
  • rope someone in