enough rope, give someone



enough rope, give someone

Allow someone to continue on a course and then suffer its consequences. For example, The auditor knew something was wrong but decided to give the chief accountant enough rope . This expression, a shortening of enough rope to hang oneself, was already proverbial in John Ray's English Proverbs (1678).
See also: enough, give

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Ramaz-Georgian
&Thorn;ÓRmÓ&Eth;R-Ancient Scandinavian
NicholasNIK-ə-ləs (English), nee-ko-LAH (French)English, French
Gualterio-Spanish (Rare)
Albertusahl-BER-tus (Dutch) Ancient Germanic (Latinized), Dutch
Crocker['krɔkə]