go down the tubes

English

Alternative forms

• go down the tube

Pronunciation

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Verb

go down the tubes (third-person singular simple present goes down the tubes, present participle going down the tubes, simple past went down the tubes, past participle gone down the tubes)

1. (euphemistic, idiomatic, US) Synonym of go down the toilet: to fail; to degenerate rapidly.

   The entire plan went down the tubes when they found they couldn't get strawberries in December.

   • 1990 February 4, Pam Mitchell, quoting Susan Moir, “Pro-Union And Queer”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 17:

     Meanwhile, Susan's own workplace shut down, and she found herself "on the street with no job and a two-year-old kid. I was trying my damndest and I was going right down the tubes."