wash one's hands of

From The Bible's account of Pontius Pilate washing his hands and refusing to condemn Jesus. Matthew Ch.27:24.

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wash one's hands of (third-person singular simple present washes one's hands of, present participle washing one's hands of, simple past and past participle washed one's hands of)

1. (idiomatic) To absolve oneself of responsibility or future blame for; to refuse to have any further involvement with.

   Synonyms: disown, disclaim, repudiate; see also Thesaurus:repudiate

   • 1884, H. Rider Haggard, chapter 51, in Dawn:

     It was no affair of his; he had long ago washed his hands of the whole matter.

   • 1916, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter 20, in Rainbow's End:

     Although Norine had pretended to wash her hands of all responsibility for Branch's little charge, she was by no means so inhuman as she appeared.

   • 1936 June 8, “National Affairs: Ditch Up, Dam Down”, in Time:

     [A]fter Congress had refused to appropriate money to continue them, President Roosevelt washed his hands of the two ventures.

   • 2003 March 13, “Immigration: Vermont Refugee Aid Group Says Policy Thins Resources”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 July 2011:

     Janet Dench, the executive director of the Canadian Council for refugees, said that both countries are “washing their hands” of the problem.

• “wash one's hands of”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.