Definition of Go to the dogs

1. Verb. Become ruined. "His business went to pot when economy soured"

Exact synonyms: Go To Pot
Generic synonyms: Deteriorate

Definition of Go to the dogs

1. Verb. (idiomatic informal) To decline or deteriorate. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Go To The Dogs

go to Putney on a pig
go to bed
go to blazes
go to extraordinary lengths
go to great lengths
go to ground
go to hell
go to pieces
go to pot
go to seed
go to sleep
go to someone's head
go to the dogs
go to the ends of the earth
go to the mat
go to the mattresses
go to the polls
go to the wall
go to town
go to war
go to work
go together
go too far
go tos
go under
go up

Literary usage of Go to the dogs

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Punch by Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Shirley Brooks, Francis Cowley Burnand, Owen Seaman (1850)
"... for it is simply a slight anticipation of the usual course of things, and instead of waiting for the suitors to go to the dogs, the dogs, in this case, ..."

2. The World of Proverb and Parable: With Illustrations from History, Biography by Edwin Paxton Hood (1885)
"The dog is your true human animal; we ought to "go to the dogs," for assuredly they are very fond of us, and love us far better than we deserve to be loved. ..."

3. History of the Wheel and Alliance and the Impending Revolution by W. Scott Morgan (1891)
"The other fellows do it, and we must get there this time or the country will go to the dogs." Great questions can never be settled by men calling each other ..."

Other Resources:

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