go to pot en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Figuratively be cut up and tossed into a pot like meat.
Meanings
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(figuratively) To come to ruin, especially to decline or deteriorate.
Iacke Straw. […] I haue his wife and children pledges, for his ſpeedie returne from the King, to whom he is gone with our meſſage. Tom Miller. Let him take heede hee bring a wiſe anſwere to our worships, or els his pledges goes to the pot.
1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I:They haven't been maintaining it, and the downtown area has really gone to pot over the past 20 years.
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(archaic, qualifier:dismissal) Go to hell; an angry dismissal.
At this moment the rabbit sprang from his arms and disappeared among the brush wood. "Go to pot," said the man, "you are a good-for-nothing dry-meated beast, to make the best of you."
1837 September 20, William Cullen Bryant, Calhoun’s Diminished Stature:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| went to pot | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| going to pot | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| gone to pot | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| goes to pot | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic |
Synonyms
go to the dogs · go downhill · go to shit (decline or deteriorate)
Translations (16)
sv gå åt skogen (grow worse) · de auf dem absteigenden Ast sein (grow worse) · ru приходить в упадок (grow worse) · ro se duce naibii (grow worse) · pl zejść na psy (grow worse) · hu tönkremegy (grow worse) · ga dul le cúr na habhann (grow worse) · it andare a puttane (grow worse) · it andare a fanculo (grow worse) · fi rapistua (grow worse) · nl spaak lopen (grow worse) · ro se duce dracului (grow worse) · pl schodzić na psy (grow worse) · ro se duce pe apa sâmbetei (grow worse) · is fara í hundana (grow worse) · it andare a farsi benedire (grow worse)