river

Related to river: Ganga river

cry (someone) a river

Said sarcastically to someone whose whining, complaints, or tears fall on unsympathetic ears. Most often said as "cry me a river." You can cry me a river, but you're still not going to that party tonight! A: "It's so unfair, I work so hard, but I only get a raise every two years!" B: "Oh, cry me a river, I haven't gotten a raise since I first started working!"
See also: cry, river

denial ain't (just) a river in Egypt

cliché A humorous phrase used to highlight the fact that someone is unable or unwilling to believe or acknowledge something as true. (A pun on the colloquial pronunciation of "the Nile.") A: "I mean, I just want to know how she's doing, that's all. I'm totally not still in love with her or anything." B: "Uh huh. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt, you know." The boss thinks he can salvage this project by throwing more money at it. Someone should let him know that denial ain't a river in Egypt.
See also: denial, Egypt, river

denial is not (just) a river in Egypt

cliché A humorous phrase used to highlight the fact that someone is in denial about something. (A pun on the colloquial pronunciation of "the Nile.") A: "I mean, I just want to know how she's doing, that's all. I'm totally not still in love with her or anything." B: "Uh huh. Denial is not just a river in Egypt, you know." The boss thinks he can salvage this project by throwing more money at it. Someone should let him know that denial isn't a river in Egypt.
See also: denial, Egypt, not, river

Don't change horses in the middle of the river.

1. proverb Do not try to choose or back a different political figure for an election after the decision has already been made or the position filled. Many people are dissatisfied with the senator's performance but will likely carry his party's support through to the next election—don't change horses in the middle of the river, as the saying goes.
2. proverb By extension, do not make major changes to a situation or course of action that is already underway. I'm really not confident in the strength of my essay, but I guess I just have to see this one through at this point. Like they say, don't change horses in the middle of the river.
See also: change, horse, middle, of

Don't swap horses in the middle of the river.

1. proverb Do not try to choose or back a different political figure for an election after the decision has already been made or the position filled. Many people are dissatisfied with the senator's performance but will likely carry his party's support through to the next election—don't swap horses in the middle of the river, as the saying goes.
2. proverb By extension, do not make major changes to a situation or course of action that is already underway. I'm really not confident in the strength of my essay, but I guess I just have to see this one through at this point. Like they say, don't swap horses in the middle of the river.
See also: horse, middle, of, swap

sail up the/a/(some) river

To travel in a boat, especially a sailboat, upstream through a river. I managed to sail up the river by constantly adjusting my position in relation to the current and the wind. The navy vessels sailed up the River Thames as part of the Remembrance Day festivities.
See also: river, sail, up

sell (one) down the river

To betray one for a personal benefit. An allusion to the practice of selling slaves to plantations farther south via the Mississippi River. These companies all want to pretend like they're your friend, but they'll sell you down the river the moment it makes financial sense for them. Part of the discontentment among voters comes from the sentiment that those in government sold them down the river when the economy collapsed.
See also: down, river, sell

sell out

1. To betray one for a personal benefit. A noun or pronoun can be used between "sell" and "out." Part of the discontentment among voters comes from the sentiment that those in government sold them out when the economy collapsed. Jacob sold out the others to the police so that he would avoid jail time.
2. Of a stock of something, to become completely depleted due to every item having been sold. The concert tickets sold out in a matter of minutes. The new smartphone is selling out faster than we expected.
3. To abandon or betray one's espoused principles or cause, especially in the pursuit of profit or personal benefit. Many of his fans felt he sold out when he signed with a major record label. That's it? One hard month and you're ready to sell out and get a corporate job?
See also: out, sell

send (one) up the river

To sentence one to prison; to cause one to go to prison. A federal judge just sent the CEO up the river for 45 years for defrauding millions of customers. The mob boss ordered a hit on the detective who had sent his right-hand man up the river.
See also: river, send, up

up the river

1. To, in, or at prison. It is extremely gratifying to see these wealthy white-collar criminals being sent up the river for stealing from so many people. I actually had better conditions up the river than I ever did in the slums where I grew up.
2. In a difficult, troubling, or dangerous situation, especially one from which it is impossible or extremely difficult to extricate oneself. Often followed by "without a paddle." A less common variant of the phrase "up a/the creek (without a paddle)." We're really going to be up the river without a paddle if we run out of gas out here in the desert. How did we get ourselves so far up the river like this? There's no way we can pay back this much debt.
See also: river, up
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

sail up a river

to travel upstream on a river in a boat or ship. We sailed up the Amazon River in a large, seagoing ship. It was not possible to sail up the Mississippi as far as we wanted.
See also: river, sail, up

sell out (to someone)

 
1. to sell everything, such as all one's property or one's company, to someone. The farmer finally gave up and sold out to a large corporation. I refuse to sell out no matter what they offer me.
2. to betray someone or something to someone. I think that you have sold out to the enemy!
See also: out, sell

sell out (to someone)

 
1. to sell everything, such as all one's property or one's company, to someone. The farmer finally gave up and sold out to a large corporation. I refuse to sell out no matter what they offer me.
2. to betray someone or something to someone. I think that you have sold out to the enemy!
See also: out, sell

sell someone out

 and sell someone down the river
to betray someone; to reveal damaging information about someone. Bill told everything he knew about Bob, and that sold Bob down the river. You'll be sorry if you sell me out. Lefty sold out his friends, and we'll all soon be arrested.
See also: out, sell

sell something out

to sell all of something. Have they sold their supply out yet? The stores sold out their stocks of that game long before Christmas.
See also: out, sell

send someone up the river

Fig. to send someone to prison. (Underworld. As done by a judge or indirectly by the police.) They tried to send me up the river, but my testimony got me off. I'm gonna send you up the river if it's the last thing I do.
See also: river, send, up

up the river

Sl. in prison. (Underworld.) Gary was up the river for a couple of years, but that doesn't make him an outcast, does it? The judge who sent him up the river was indicted for accepting bribery. If Gary had only known sooner!
See also: river, up
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

sell down the river

Betray, as in They kept the merger a secret until the last minute, so the employees who were laid off felt they'd been sold down the river . This expression, dating from the mid-1800s, alludes to slaves being sold down the Mississippi River to work as laborers on cotton plantations. Its figurative use dates from the late 1800s.
See also: down, river, sell

sell out

1. Dispose of entirely by selling. For example, The rancher finally sold out to the oil company, or The tickets to the concert were sold out a month ago. [Late 1700s]
2. Betray one's cause or colleagues, as in He sold out to the other side. [Slang; late 1800s]
See also: out, sell

up the river

To or in prison, as in They sent him up the river for five years. This phrase originally referred to Sing-Sing Prison, on the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City. So used from about 1890 on, it was broadened to apply to any prison by the early 1900s.
See also: river, up
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

sell someone down the river

If someone sells you down the river, they betray you or do something which harms you in order to gain an advantage for themselves. He has been sold down the river by the people who were supposed to protect him. He said he could not agree to measures which would sell British farmers down the river. Note: This is a reference to slave-owners on the Mississippi river selling unwanted slaves to other slave-owners further down the river, where the conditions were harsher.
See also: down, river, sell, someone
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

sell someone down the river

betray someone, especially so as to benefit yourself. informal
This expression originated in the USA, with reference to the practice in the slave-owning states of selling troublesome slaves to owners of sugar-cane plantations on the lower Mississippi, where conditions were harsher than those in the more northerly states.
1998 Bookseller Once you have lost it with the first three the last lot will sell you down the river so fast it isn't true.
See also: down, river, sell, someone

up the river

to or in prison. informal, chiefly North American
This phrase originated with reference to Sing Sing prison, which is situated up the Hudson River from the city of New York.
See also: river, up
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

sell somebody down the ˈriver

(informal) act very unfairly to somebody who trusts you; betray somebody you have promised to help: The workers thought that their own leaders had sold them down the river.This idiom comes from the days of slavery in the US. A slave who was sold to an owner further down the Mississippi river would experience worse conditions than in the states further north.
See also: down, river, sell, somebody
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

sell out

v.
1. To be sold completely: The tickets will sell out by tomorrow.
2. To sell one's entire supply of a particular item: I'm afraid we sold out all our ice cream, kids! The hardware store sold out of plywood as the hurricane moved closer to shore.
3. To cause some supply of merchandise to be sold completely. Used in the passive: We can't get into the theater because the tickets are sold out.
4. To cause some vendor to sell its entire supply of something. Used in the passive: I wanted to buy more spoons, but the store was sold out.
5. To sell one's entire stake in a business or venture: The owners of the liquor store plan to sell out as soon as they can find a buyer.
6. To betray one's cause or colleagues, especially for money: The disloyal baseball player sold out to another team.
7. To betray someone or something, especially for money: The manager sold out his staff in order to keep his own job. Our agent sold us out when she moved to a better company and dropped us as a client.
See also: out, sell
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.

send someone up the river

tv. to send someone to prison. (Underworld. As done by a judge or indirectly by the police.) They tried to send me up the river, but my lip got me off.
See also: river, send, someone, up

up the river

mod. in prison. (Underworld.) The judge who sent him up the river was indicted for accepting bribery. If Gary had only known sooner!
See also: river, up
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

up the river

Slang
In or into prison.
See also: river, up

sell down the river

Informal
To betray the trust or faith of.
See also: down, river, sell
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.

sell down the river, to

To betray. This term arose in the mid-nineteenth-century United States and referred to selling slaves down the Mississippi River, where they would almost certainly be worked to death in the cotton fields. The term was used in its literal sense by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her best-selling novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but by the late nineteenth century it was being used figuratively. P. G. Wodehouse used it in Small Bachelor (1927): “When Sigisbee Waddington married for the second time, he to all intents and purposes sold himself down the river.”
See also: down, sell
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer

up the river

In jail. The infamous Sing Sing Correctional Facility, located in the town of Ossining thirty miles north of New York City, sits on the Hudson River shoreline. Any criminal convicted in a New York court and sentenced to be imprisoned there was sent “up the river.” The phrase, made popular in gangster movies, began to be applied to other prisons in the country, whether or not the cells boasted of a river view. “Up the river” should not be confused with “sold down the river,” meaning “deceived” and derived from the antebellum practice of Northern slaveholders selling troublesome slaves down the Mississippi River for a life of endless toil on cotton plantations.
See also: river, up
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • cry (someone) a river
  • cry from the heart
  • a cry from the heart
  • cry over
  • cry over (someone or something)
  • cry your heart out
  • cry heart out
  • cry (one's) heart out
  • cry one's eyes out
  • cry (one's) eyes out
References in classic literature
Availing himself, therefore, of the driftwood which had collected in quantities in the neighboring bends of the river, Mr.
The climate was salubrious, the soil fertile, the rivers well stocked with fish, the natives peaceable and friendly.
Astoria or Anecdotes of an enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountain
Indus River System Authority (IRSA) said Tuesday that the water level in Indus River at Guddu is 422,653 cusecs, Taunsa area 342,978 cusecs, Sukkur 360,125 cusecs and Kotri 185015 cusecs.
Over 100 villages submerged as Indus River flood looms
As the organizers emphasized, 300 hydropower plants are planned to be built on 244 rivers in BiH, which means that there will be more plants than there are rivers, and about 3,000 of them are planned to be built on almost every river in the countries of the Balkans.
Activists raise voice against construction of hydro power plants on BiH rivers
Estero de San Miguel is a 2.3-kilometer tributary of the Pasig River located in Manila by P.
Public warned vs eating fish caught in Pasig River
'We have to save our rivers from the grasp of the influential clique.
Resist river encroachment: Hasan
The Indus River dolphin swims on its side, at times enabling it to move in water as shallow as 30 cm.
World's rarest animal Indus River Dolphin faces extinction
In Cebu, the prioritized Class C rivers are Bulacao River-Talisay and Cebu (source Bulacao river); Guindarohan- Minglanilla Cebu (Cantso-an, Naga and downstream); Guadalupe River- Cebu City (downstream of Sandayong Bridge); Luyang River-Carmen Cebu (segment within Cogon, Carmen and below Sapangdaku
11 Central Visayas rivers due for clean-up
Eva Abal, CEO of the International River Foundation (IRF), a non-profit organisation that champions integrated river basin management, said during the summit that the world needs "a paradigm shift from the way we look at our rivers."
Philippine rivers ordered cleaned up within one year
That led us to talk about the Pasig River which is the equivalent of rivers in other countries.
Pasig River wins 1st Asia RiverPrize award!
But it gushes forth, winding its way downstream with renewed urgency.Its understandable if the name of the river sounds unfamiliar, distant.
Gura, the 'Usain Bolt of rivers'
River Blythe at Widney Manor, Brueton Park and Eastcote
Homes and roads on flood alert across Coventry and Warwickshire; It follows torrential rain and thunderstorms across the Midlands on Sunday
The river Indus, one of the longest rivers in Asia is polluted as a result of litter, untreated agricultural, industrial and municipal waste.
95% of plastic polluting world's oceans come from just 10 rivers including Indus
Lopez, in a visit here on Wednesday, said Butuanon River, which stretches from Metro Cebu and empties out to sea through Mactan Channel, could still be rehabilitated because even if this river had been declared 'biologically dead' in 1992, its condition was not yet as bad as Pasig River's.
Gina offers help in reviving Mandaue river