wash your hands of something/someone

wash (one's) hands of (someone or something)

1. To absolve oneself of or distance oneself from responsibility for something. I don't want to be part of this scheme any more. I wash my hands of it.2. To renounce, abandon, or distance oneself from someone or something. The director famously hated the final cut of the movie and has washed his hands of it, even going so far as to remove his name from the project. I'm afraid that if I tell my parents what I've done, they will wash their hands of me.See also: hand, of, wash

wash your hands of something/someone

COMMON If you wash your hands of a problem or a person who causes problems, you refuse to be involved with them or to take responsibility for them any longer. `If Charles was my patient I would wash my hands of him,' said specialist Dr George Raine. The state cannot wash its hands of responsibility for these prisoners. Note: According to the Bible, Pontius Pilate washed his hands in a bowl to show that he would not take responsibility for the death sentence which the public demanded he should pass on Jesus. (Matthew 27:24) See also: hand, of, someone, something, wash