left holding the baby
1
9.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
quedarse con el muerto
- Don't you feel left holding the baby after the team abandoned the project?
Examples
-
After the partners quit the venture, John was left holding the baby and had to sort out the mess.
-
When the project collapsed, she was left holding the baby while everyone else disappeared.
-
Whenever there's extra work, it seems I'm always left holding the baby at the end.
-
When the deadline approached, I was left holding the baby by myself.
-
After the team abandoned the project, Mark was left holding the baby and had to finish it alone.
-
When the last manager quit, the junior staff were left holding the baby with all the pending tasks.
-
After the sudden resignation of their leader, the remaining members felt left holding the baby with no guidance.
Synonyms
19
4.5
Take care of a place or job while someone is away
11
8.8
End up responsible for the blame or a problem others avoid
1
8.8
To have the only responsibility for a hard problem when others avoid it
Antonyms
How Responsible
28
5.3
- Informal
1
9.1
- Informal
26
5.3
99
1.0
- Informal
1
3.5
31
3.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'left' (abandoned) and 'holding' (keeping/being responsible) give a clear cue that someone is left with responsibility, so a learner could infer the general situation. However, the use of 'baby' as a metaphor for a responsibility/project (rather than the literal infant) and the idiomatic construction are not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure, making it only partially transparent.
Etymology
The idiom left holding the baby may come from the simple picture of a person being literally left alone while holding a crying baby after everyone else walks away. So, that image of being stuck with the baby explains why the phrase means 'having to deal with a problem or responsibility alone'.