Dictionary

sell down the river en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Probably from the practice in the U.S., prior to the American Civil War, of trading in slaves who were transported via the Mississippi River: :* Mark Twain (1885), chapter 42, in Huckleberry Finn: “"[H]e ain't no slave. . . . Old Miss Watson died two months ago, and she was ashamed she ever was going to sell him down the river, and said so; and she set him free in her will."” :* Colin Woodard (2011), chapter 18, in American nations: "The least fortunate wound up on the sugar plantations of southern Louisiana and Mississippi, where it was sometimes profitable to work one’s slaves to death. Being “sold down the river” originally referred to slaves being sold by Appalachian people in Kentucky and Tennessee to downriver plantation owners in the Deep South.”

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To betray, especially in a manner which causes serious difficulty for the one betrayed.
   • [T]he Prime Minister was listened to with respect when he replied to Opposition hints that Ethiopia was being sold down the river because Britain was afraid she or her ships might suddenly be attacked by Italian airmen. 1935 December 23, “Great Britain: Vampire's Caress”, in Time:
   • "But screw it, this bastard is selling America down the river. He's a traitor." 2005, Douglas J. Preston, Lincoln Child, Brimstone, →ISBN, page 262:
   • As a result, analysts were routinely selling investors down the river by promoting stocks purely to land banking business from companies. 2006 March 4, Joe Nocera, “The Anguish Of Being An Analyst”, in New York Times, retrieved 17 Jun 2009:
   • Somebody told me, I know where to go Somebody showed me, I was last to know Sell me down the river Sell me down the river Sell me down the river Sell me down the river What I wanted is what we wanted What we wanted is what she wanted 1994, Scott Weiland, “Kitchenware & Candybars”, in Purple, performed by Stone Temple Pilots:

Forms

Synonyms

knife · assfuck · sell down the river · false · cross up · sell the pass · burn · sell out · cop out · do someone dirty · double-cross · sell out · swike · sell the pass · let down · turncoat · renegade · quisle · stab in the back · betray · sell down · cross out · sell · traitorize · sell · play someone false · go back on · do the dirty on