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
Bao-Chinese
Petya-Russian, Bulgarian
Roseanne[rəu'zæn]
Hinds[haindz]
Sabellasə-BEL-əEnglish (Rare)
Mihangel-Welsh