phrase
Bail Out
Abandon a situation — or, in finance, rescue one that's collapsing.
Origin
Originally pilots jumping from a stricken aircraft with a parachute. The metaphor stretched first to anyone exiting a bad situation, then to financial rescues — the 1980s S&L bailout and the 2008 bank bailouts both run on the same image of pulling someone out before impact.
Modern usage
Splits into two related senses: leaving a commitment ('she bailed on dinner') and rescuing someone else from collapse ('the government bailed out the banks'). Context disambiguates. Both are everyday English.
In the wild
Half the lineup bailed an hour before doors — we played as a trio.— musician anecdote