twist in the wind

Idioms and Phrases

Be abandoned to a bad situation, especially be left to incur blame, as in The governor denied knowing it was illegal and left his aide to twist in the wind . It is also put as leave twisting in the wind , meaning “abandon or strand in a difficult situation,” as in Sensing a public relations disaster, the President left the Vice-President twisting in the wind . This expression, at first applied to a President's nominees who faced opposition and were abandoned by the President, alludes to the corpse of a hanged man left dangling and twisting in the open air. [ Slang ; early 1970s] Also see out on a limb .