leave someone to their own devices

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  (leave to one's own devices)

leave (someone) to (their) own devices (third-person singular simple present leaves (someone) to (their) own devices, present participle leaving (someone) to (their) own devices, simple past and past participle left (someone) to (their) own devices)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance.

   Left to my own devices, I'll spend hours staring into space, just thinking.

   Let's leave her to her own devices and see what she comes up with.

   • 1953, Ian Fleming, Casino Royale, page 32:

     ‘Forgive me,’ he said to the girl, ‘while I telephone to the Dubernes. I must arrange my rendezvous for dinner tonight. Are you sure you won't mind being left to your own devices this evening?’

   • 1963 February, “Nobody runs this railway, mate”, in Modern Railways, page 75:

     But surely one of the most often-heard complaints this past year or so, not only from passengers and traders, but from many of these selfsame railwaymen, is that the latter are left too much to their own devices to sort out their problems as best they can; [...].

• fend for oneself

• “leave*own devices”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.