sell down the river
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To betray or deceive someone for personal gain
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Bội phản hoặc lừa dối ai đó vì lợi ích cá nhân
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: to sell someone as a slave, down a river
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company sold their employees down the river by outsourcing their jobs
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “sell down the river” mean?
To betray or deceive someone for personal gain Literally: to sell someone as a slave, down a river
Is “sell down the river” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.