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Antonyms for sell down the river


Grammar : Verb
Spell : riv-er
Phonetic Transcription : ˈrɪv ər



Definition of sell down the river

Origin :
  • early 13c., from Anglo-French rivere, Old French riviere "river, riverside, river bank" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *riparia "riverbank, seashore, river" (cf. Spanish ribera, Italian riviera), noun use of fem. of Latin riparius "of a riverbank" (see riparian). Generalized sense of "a copious flow" of anything is from late 14c. The Old English word was ea "river," cognate with Gothic ahwa, Latin aqua (see aqua-). Romanic cognate words tend to retain the sense "river bank" as the main one, or else the secondary Latin sense "coast of the sea" (cf. Riviera).
  • U.S. slang phrase up the river "in prison" (1891) is originally in reference to Sing Sing prison, which was literally "up the (Hudson) river" from New York City. Phrase down the river "done for, finished" perhaps echoes sense in sell down the river (1851), originally of troublesome slaves, to sell from the Upper South to the harsher cotton plantations of the Deep South.
  • As in backstab : verb attack indirectly
  • As in sell/sell out : verb betray
  • As in squeal : verb inform on
  • As in stab in the back : verb attack unsuspecting person
  • As in betray : verb be disloyal
  • As in blow the whistle : verb inform on
  • As in double-cross : verb to deceive or betray someone

Synonyms for sell down the river

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019