take one's ball and go home

present singular third person takes one's ball and goes home · participle present taking one's ball and going home · past took one's ball and went home · participle past taken one's ball and gone home · alternative take one's bat and ball and go home · alternative take one's football and go home

1. idiomaticinformalTo cease participating in an activity that has turned to one's disadvantage, especially out of spite, or in a way that prevents others from participating as well.

   [F]aced with the choice of raising his bid by a dollar or two a share or making a hostile offer, Mr. Ballmer did neither. Instead, he took his ball and went home.

   2008 May 6, Andrew Ross Sorkin, “How Not to Make a Deal”, in New York Times, retrieved 06 May 2015

   1 more example

   In 1977 American auto industry leaders threatened to "take their ball and go home" by shutting down production of 1978 models unless they received yet a third delay in meeting the auto emission standards of the Clean Air Act.

   1978, "House Vote 13," In Common, Vol. 9, p. 52 (Google snippet view)