Meaning
If you leave someone free to act, their own conduct will eventually expose or ruin them. Usually said of a wrongdoer deliberately given slack so that their misbehaviour becomes undeniable, but also used more neutrally of letting anyone prove themselves without interference. Neutral register with a grim, wry undertone; common in journalism and political commentary. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The figurative phrase 'give someone (enough) rope (to hang himself)' is dated by Etymonline to the 1680s, making it well over three centuries old. It requires no exotic derivation: the image is the literal gallows one, in which enough slack rope lets a person hang himself, transferred to granting free scope that lets the unwary or guilty destroy themselves. No individual originator is recorded. Wiktionary distinguishes the two shades the idiom carries in present-day use: allowing someone to operate unhindered or without overbearing oversight, and deliberately allowing an adversary that freedom in the expectation that they will end up harming or discrediting themselves.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Enough rope to hang himself
- Give him enough rope and he will hang himself
- Give someone enough rope to hang themselves
- Give them enough rope
Usage Examples
- The investigators did not arrest the broker straight away; give a man enough rope and he'll hang himself.
- Her editor gave the plagiarist enough rope, then published the side-by-side comparison.
- Give them enough rope, the coach said, and their own timesheets will do the convicting for us.