Leave someone in the lurch Informal

Abandon someone when they are in trouble or depending on your help, leaving them to face a difficult situation alone.

The noun «lurch» has had several meanings in English, and the history of this particular idiom is not completely settled. Older English used «lurch» in gaming contexts, including situations involving a decisive defeat or disadvantage. That background has often been connected with the idea of leaving someone in a losing position, although individual historical explanations should be treated cautiously. Whatever its precise route into the modern language, «leave someone in the lurch» came to mean deserting a person at the very moment support is needed. The image is less about ordinary separation than about an unfair change of circumstances: one person withdraws and the other must bear the consequences. It is common in stories of unreliable colleagues, friends and partners. The phrase can express moral criticism, because the abandoned person had a reasonable expectation of help.

He promised to drive us home, then left us in the lurch.

When the supplier cancelled at the last minute, we were left in the lurch.

I can’t leave my teammates in the lurch before the deadline.