hold the bag

Related to hold the bag: left holding the bag

hold the bag

To have responsibility or guilt for something foisted upon oneself; to take the blame for something. My partner had been cooking the books for years, but I was left holding the bag when the business collapsed.

hold the bag

Informal

1. To be left with empty hands.

2. To be forced to assume total responsibility when it ought to have been shared.

hold(ing) the bag, to/be left

Abandoned by others, left in the lurch to carry the responsibility or blame. The implication in this expression, used since the eighteenth century, is that one is left holding an empty bag while others have made off with the presumably valuable contents. The phrase has often been used in international relations—for example, by Thomas Jefferson (“She will leave Spain the bag to hold,” Writings, 1793), and on the eve of America’s entrance into World War II, by Clare Boothe (Luce) in Europe in the Spring (1940): “When bigger and better bags are made, America will hold them.”

词组	hold the bag
释义	hold the bag Related to hold the bag: left holding the bag hold the bag To have responsibility or guilt for something foisted upon oneself; to take the blame for something. My partner had been cooking the books for years, but I was left holding the bag when the business collapsed. See also: bag, hold Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. hold the bag Informal 1. To be left with empty hands. 2. To be forced to assume total responsibility when it ought to have been shared. See also: bag, hold American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. hold(ing) the bag, to/be left Abandoned by others, left in the lurch to carry the responsibility or blame. The implication in this expression, used since the eighteenth century, is that one is left holding an empty bag while others have made off with the presumably valuable contents. The phrase has often been used in international relations—for example, by Thomas Jefferson (“She will leave Spain the bag to hold,” Writings, 1793), and on the eve of America’s entrance into World War II, by Clare Boothe (Luce) in Europe in the Spring (1940): “When bigger and better bags are made, America will hold them.” See also: left The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer See also: a crack at (someone or something) a/the feel of (something) (I) wouldn't (do something) if I were you a thing of the past a straw will show which way the wind blows all right (you) wanna make something of it? all for the best a slew of (something) a bird in the hand References in periodicals archive You might get a small parting, but most of the time I found myself having to hold the bag sides apart as I slashed the stretched thread with a knife in my third hand. How hard can it be? There is a trick to opening feed bags I didn't even want to hold the bag I was that shocked. Crumbs! There's a live rat in my loaf The tool allows one person to fill bags, rather than have one person hold the bag open while another shovels sand into it, said Warren E. Local company aids in ND flood And by 1952, Lipton held the tea bag patent, but who was going to hold the bag? A tradition steeped with charm A thief grabbed her handbag and hung on despite her dogged struggle to hold the bag. Nurse robbed on trip to Tees Place a bag firmly over each ear, wedging a side of the bag between the ear and the stalk to help hold the bag in place. Bag your corn
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