sell the pass

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

sell the pass (third-person singular simple present sells the pass, present participle selling the pass, simple past and past participle sold the pass)

1. (idiomatic, originally Ireland) To betray one's comrades or countrymen; to betray a cause.
   • 1972, Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down, Folio Society, published 2016, page 257:

     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.

   • 2012, Pádraig Yeates, A City in Turmoil:

     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.