turn one's back on
turn (one's) back on (someone or something)
To ignore, disregard, or exclude someone or something; to abandon, give up on, or forsake someone or something. It's clear that the company has turned its back on customers. After becoming a successful writer, Jim turned his back on all the people he used to know back home.
See also: back, on, turn
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
turn one's back on
Deny, reject; also abandon, forsake. For example, I can't turn my back on my own daughter, no matter what she's done, or He simply turned his back on them and never gave it a second thought. [c. 1400] Also see when one's back is turned.
See also: back, on, turn
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
turn one's back on, to
To reject; also, to run away (from a fight). Emerson used it in the first sense in his famous Transcendentalist poem, “Brahma” (1857): “Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.” Tennyson used it in the second sense in “The Revenge”: “Let us bang these dogs of Seville . . . For I never turn’d my back upon Don or devil yet.” The second figurative meaning is the older one, dating from about 1400; the first began to be used about 1600.
See also: back, turn
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- be/have done with somebody/something
- be in line with (someone or something)
- better of
- (someone or something) promises well
- begin with
- begin with (someone or something)
- bird has flown, the
- beware of
- beware of (someone or something)
- be rough on (someone or something)