Definition of Go to pot

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

Exact synonyms: Go To The Dogs
Generic synonyms: Deteriorate

Definition of Go to pot

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

2. Verb. (idiomatic) To come to a bad end. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Go To Pot

go through the mill
go through the motions
go through with
go to
go to Canossa
go to Halifax
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

Literary usage of Go to pot

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

1. A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant: Embracing English, American, and Anglo by Albert Barrère, Charles Godfrey Leland (1890)
"To go to pot, to die. This expression refers to broken metal placed in the melting-pot. Pothouse, ie, Peterhouse, or St. Peter's College, Cambridge. ..."

2. Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: A Dictionary, Historical and by John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley (1902)
"TO go to pot, verb. phr. (common).—To perish ; to be done for : as by death, ... Whence go to pot ! = 'Go to the devil' ; ' Go hang yourself: Fr. ..."

3. The Dialect of Craven: In the West-Riding of the County of York by William Carr (1828)
"Tho' ye have lien among the pots." Psalms. "They that appertain to God, they shall inherit everlasting life; they must go to pot, they must suffer here. ..."

4. The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal by John Camden Hotten (1874)
"... TO go to pot, to die ; from the classic custom of putting the ashes of the dead in an urn ; also, to be ruined or broken up,—often applied to ..."

5. The Slang Dictionary: Or, The Vulgar Words, Street Phrases, and "fast by John Camden Hotten (1865)
"Go TO POT ! ie., go and hang yourself, shut up and be quiet. L'Estrange, to PUT THE POT ON, to overcharge, or exaggerate. A correspondent, however, prefers ..."

6. Folk-Etymology: A Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions Or Words Perverted in by Abram Smythe Palmer (1882)
"Hence, probably, may be explained the old popular phrase, " To go to pot," originally " to go to ... Bliss). plot, Defy or court, all's one, they go to pot. ..."

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