enough rope, give someone

enough rope, give someone idiom
Allow someone to continue on a course and then suffer its consequences. For example, The auditor knew something was wrong but decided to give the chief accountant enough rope. This expression, a shortening of enough rope to hang oneself, was already proverbial in John Ray's English Proverbs (1678).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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