dash (one's) hopes
To undercut one's dreams or optimistic views. I became a lawyer after my parents dashed my hopes of being an artist. A: "Well, I was gonna talk to that pretty girl by the bar until these jerks dashed my hopes." B: "Sorry, we can't help it that you're a huge dork!" There's a storm rolling in? Dang, that dashes my hopes of spending the day on the beach.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
dash someone's hopes
Destroy someone's plans, disappoint or disillusion. For example, That fall dashed her hopes of a gold medal. This term uses dash in the sense of "destroy," a usage surviving only in this idiom. [Second half of 1500s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.