Meaning:
Put oneself in an risky position in one's support of someone or something.
Background:
The limb being talked about here is the branch of a tree and `out on a limb'
is an allusion to climbing trees and going just a bit further than is
comfortable.
All of us must remember that feeling of not wanting to go further out to
reach that apple/ball or whatever for fear that the branch (limb) would
break under us.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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My friend Bill did a ringer job and sat in the national college English Level 4
exam for a buddy. According to school policy, the guy couldn't get his
bachelor's diploma without passing. He had failed twice already, it was his
fourth year and last shot, and he had no doubt he would fail again. The exam
itself was a piece of cake for Bill but if he were caught both would be
expelled. It took some planning and daring but they pulled it off.
This was in the mid-90s, the height of Reform and Opening. Everything was
looking up and the future rosy. Bill went out on a limb for his friend partly
because he betted that would he fail he could still get work in the hot market
for educated labor.
