throw someone a rope

present singular third person throws someone a rope · participle present throwing someone a rope · past threw someone a rope · participle past thrown someone a rope

1. idiomaticTo rescue someone by providing them with help, such as material aid, financial aid, a face-saving excuse, or a clue.

   He's out there making a fool of himself. Someone should throw him a rope.

   2 more examples

   Near-synonyms: save someone's life, save someone's skin, save someone's bacon, pull someone's bacon out of the fire, give someone a hand, lend a hand, bail someone out

   Throw me a rope On the rolling tide What did you want it to be? You said it's him or me The way you made it That's the way it will be

   2011, Gillian Welch, “The Way It Will Be”, in The Harrow & the Harvest, performed by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings

   Synonyms: save someone's life, save someone's skin, save someone's bacon, pull someone's bacon out of the fire, give someone a hand, lend a hand, bail out

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: to rescue someone from drowning by tossing a rope for them to grab onto and be dragged to safety.

   He's out there fighting the riptide. We need to throw him a rope.