sell the pass

present singular third person sells the pass · participle present selling the pass · participle past sold the pass · past sold the pass

1. idiomaticTo betray one's comrades or countrymen; to betray a cause.

   A respectable divine like Samual Torshell sold the pass when he wrote in 1645 that there was no difference between men and women in the state of grace.

   1972, Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down, Folio Society, published 2016, page 257

   1 more example

   In fact the officials in the Richmond Asylum had pre-empted Sinn Féin. They managed to sell the pass without losing their jobs in the process, unlike Henry Campbell or John Flood.

   2012, Pádraig Yeates, A City in Turmoil

   Synonyms: sell, sell down the river, sell out, assfuck, betray, burn, cop out, cross out