What does the saying gone to the dogs mean?
Meaning: If something has gone to the dogs, it has gone badly wrong and lost all the good things it had.
Where does the phrase going to the dogs come from?
The origin of this expression is believed to be in ancient China where dogs, by tradition, were not permitted within the walls of cities. Consequently, stray dogs roamed the areas outside the city walls and lived off the rubbish thrown out of the city by its inhabitants.
What does it mean to dogs someone?
verb To judge or criticize someone for something. Why are you dogging me about this? It’s really not a big deal. 2. verb To follow or pursue someone.
What does the idiom fight tooth and nail mean?
Engage in vigorous combat or make a strenuous effort, using all one’s resources. For example, I’m going to fight tooth and nail for that promotion. This expression, with its allusion to biting and scratching, was first recorded in 1576.
What is the meaning of idiom to smell a rat?
suspicious
To smell a rat is an idiom, the key word to understanding it is the adjective suspicious. Suspicious: causing a feeling that something is wrong or that someone is behaving wrongly.
What does going to rack and ruin mean?
to become destroyed or ruined
Definition of go to rack and ruin : to become destroyed or ruined The old house has gone to rack and ruin.
What does the saying doom and gloom mean?
Definition of gloom and doom : sad and tragic events : a feeling or attitude that things are only getting worse The papers are filled with stories of gloom and doom. She was full of gloom and doom.
What does it mean to dog a girl out?
(slang, African-American Vernacular) To mistreat, especially for a pimp or abusive man to mistreat a woman by prostituting her. quotations ▼
What does dogging a girl out mean?
slang To subject someone to severe mistreatment or abuse. A noun or pronoun can be used between “dog” and “out.” Turns out he’d been dogging me out for more than a year—cheating on me, stealing from me, and then making me think I was crazy for ever suspecting him. 2.
What does don’t open a can of worms mean?
: to create a complicated situation in which doing something to correct a problem leads to many more problems Our boss is reluctant to change the policy now because she doesn’t want to open a can of worms.
What does’go to the dogs’mean?
A rascal, who is a known sharper in these parts, hearing of the aversion I had to cruelty, bought an old, one-eyed horse, that was going to the dogs, for five shillings. ‘Go to the dogs’ was preceded by the similar phrase ‘ go to pot ‘, which means much the same thing.
What is the synonym of go to the dogs?
go to the dogs. › If a country or organization is going to the dogs, it is becoming very much less successful than it was in the past. Thesaurus: synonyms and related words. Deteriorating and making worse. a step backwards idiom. a turn of the screw idiom. add. aggravate.
What does “the country is going to the dogs” mean?
This expression, which has meant to come to a bad end since the seventeenth century, assumes that dogs are inferior creatures, as so many other sayings do (a dog’s life, die like a dog, sick as a dog, and so on). It was already a cliché by the time Shaw wrote, “The country is going to the dogs” ( Augustus Does His Bit, 1917).
What does the business went to the dogs mean?
to become much worse in quality or character: After Joe retired, the business went to the dogs. (Definition of go to the dogs from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press) Translations of go to the dogs