Dictionary

go straight en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To discontinue engaging in criminal acts; to become a law-abiding person.
   • He's proved very reliable since he was paroled. He's a good kid tryin' to go straight, for the most part. 1989, John Grisham, A Time to Kill, reprint edition, →ISBN, page 12:
   • "I can't take no more time in jail," he said. "I'm going straight." 1995 July 2, John Tierney, “The Big City: Cheats Like Us”, in New York Times, retrieved 13 Sep 2012:
   • "Oh," said Jimmy, "if I ever want any one to break into a safe, come to you, huh?" "You get me," replied the other. . . . "I should think," said Jimmy, "that a man of your ability could earn a living by less precarious methods." "You would think so," replied the Lizard. "I've tried two or three times to go straight. Wore out my shoes looking for a job." 1921, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 3, in The Efficiency Expert:
   • [H]e got a law passed threatening them with jail if they did not go straight in the future. 1951 September 24, “Mexico: Toward the Perfect State”, in Time:

Forms

Synonyms

play it straight

Translations (4)

it rigare diritto (to discontinue engaging in criminal acts) · de sich gesetzestreu verhalten (to discontinue engaging in criminal acts) · de keine krummen Sachen mehr machen (to discontinue engaging in criminal acts) · de sauber bleiben (to discontinue engaging in criminal acts)