English

Verb

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

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

   After three years without maintenance, their yard has really gone to the dogs.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 50

     I suppose there was some kink in Abraham. Poor devil, he's gone to the dogs altogether. He's got some twopenny-halfpenny job in the medical at Alexandria—sanitary officer or something like that.

Synonyms

• go to pot, go downhill; go to **** (vulgar)

Translations