Expert: Ted Nesbitt - 9/28/2007

Question
Where does the expression "high and dry" come from?  As to leave someone "high and dry."

Answer
Paul:

The phrase was originally used as a maritime or nautical expression, in reference to ships that were stranded.  It has come to mean any situation in which the parties involved are left stranded -- or put into peril -- or have been left in a situation from which they cannot escape.

I am pasting in below TWO references.  The first is from "The Oxford English Dictionary, [OED] the world's foremost authority on the origins of words and phrases in the English language.  The first appearance in WRITTEN English was in 1822 in an article by R. G. Wallace.  It MAY have been used earlier in SPOKEN English, but the OED keeps no record of oral usage, which would not be reliable.

The second source is from "The Phrase Finder," an online [free] service provided by Sheffield University in England. They give the date of first usage as August, 1796.
The reference is from the London Times newspaper.  I cannot account for WHY the OED did not use this reference as the FIRST appearance.


OED –

III. 17. Phrases.    a. high and dry: said of a vessel cast or drawn up on the shore out of the water; hence fig. out of the current of events or progress, ‘stranded’ (sometimes with allusion to senses 5, 14, or 15, and to DRY a. sense 17). Also used in sense ‘safe’.
 high-and-dry church, a nickname for the old High Church party, as distinguished from that which originated with the 19th c. Oxford movement.

1822 R. G. WALLACE 15 Yrs. Ind. 48 Another surf sent Ensign George True high and dry on the beach. 1838 DICKENS Let. 26 July (1965) I. 421, I no sooner get myself up, high and dry, to attack him [sc. Oliver Twist] manfully than up come the waves of each month's work. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 359 Dry dock..for laying up ships of war out of commission, or ships ‘in ordinary’, high and dry. 1853 BUNSEN Let. in Life & Wks. Kingsley (1901) II. 112 You know of the persecution of the Evangelicals, and High and dry against Maurice. 1857 TROLLOPE Barchester T. 39 (Hoppe) That party which is now scandalously called the high-and-dry church. 1864 J. H. NEWMAN Apol. 282 Principles..which went beyond that particular defence which high-and-dry men thought perfection. 1881 E. W. HAMILTON Diary 18 June (1972) I. 146 Meanwhile, Dr. Flood's successor had been appointed, and Dr. Flood was left high and dry without preferment owing to an undoubted breach of faith on the part of Duckworth. 1891 Spectator 10 Oct. 487 The high-and-dry aristocrats who looked on him as a tradesman. 1927 J. GALSWORTHY Castles in Spain 169 A true work of art remains beautiful and living, though an ebb tide of fashion may leave it for the moment high and dry on the beach. 1941 W. S. MAUGHAM Writer's Notebk. (1949) 305 The river has flowed on and left him high and dry on the bank. The writer has his little hour..but an hour is soon past. 1960 Times 30 Aug. 11/6 Cella's back-heel, so deceptive, so utterly unexpected, left Rossano high and dry.


Sheffield University – England – Phrase Finder

Meaning
Stranded, without help or hope of recovery.

Origin
This term originally referred to ships that were beached. The 'dry' implies that, not only were they out of the water, but had been for some time and could be expected to remain so. It was used in a 'Ship News' column in The [London] Times, August 1796:
"The Russian frigate Archipelago, yesterday got aground below the Nore at high water, which; when the tide had ebbed, left her nearly high and dry."




A ship being "high and dry" is when it is perched on dunes/rocks etc when the tide goes out - for it to be "dry" is for it to have insufficient water beneath it to float - so "high and dry" means that the boat/ship is stranded and cannot float away. It is popularly used to indicated a serious problem with no obvious solution - a ship on rocks/sand without water to float it off again is in big trouble - try to tug it off rocks dry and the bottom will most likely be ripped to shreds and unless the tide rises high enough, there may not be sufficent bouyancy for it to get off.

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I trust that this answer will be of help to you.

Ted Nesbitt