sell down the river
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sell down the river
Where it comes from
Probably from the practice in the U.S., prior to the American Civil War, of trading in slaves who were transported via the Mississippi River:
:* Mark Twain (1885), chapter 42, in Huckleberry Finn: “"[H]e ain't no slave. . . . Old Miss Watson died two months ago, and she was ashamed she ever was going to sell him down the river, and said so; and she set him free in her will."”
:* Colin Woodard (2011), chapter 18, in American nations:
"The least fortunate wound up on the sugar plantations of southern Louisiana and Mississippi, where it was sometimes profitable to work one’s slaves to death. Being “sold down the river” originally referred to slaves being sold by Appalachian people in Kentucky and Tennessee to downriver plantation owners in the Deep South.”
verb sells down the river · selling down the river · sold down the river
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To betray, especially in a manner which causes serious difficulty for the one betrayed.
[T]he Prime Minister was listened to with respect when he replied to Opposition hints that Ethiopia was being sold down the river because Britain was afraid she or her ships might suddenly be attacked by Italian airmen.
Similar: sell, sell the pass, sell out, assfuck, betray, burn, cop out, cross out, cross up, double-cross, do someone dirty, do the dirty on
Talk about this word "sell down the river." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sell%20down%20the%20river. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. sell down the river. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sell%20down%20the%20river "sell down the river." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sell%20down%20the%20river.Cite this
@misc{sell_down_the_river_2026,
title = {sell down the river},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sell%20down%20the%20river},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
