Search
Select the dictionary language
to go down the tube
01
to experience a significant decline, failure, or deterioration in a situation, project, or endeavor
![to [go] down the [tube] definition and meaning](https://cdn.langeek.co/photo/40765/original/?type=jpeg "to [go] down the [tube] definition and meaning")
Disapproving
Idiom
What is the origin of the idiom "go down the tube" and when to use it?
The idiom "go down the tube" is believed to have originated in the 1930s, when people would throw unwanted items down the sewer pipes. Over time, the phrase came to be used in a figurative sense to describe anything that is going to waste or being ruined.
Examples
The project went down the tube after the funding was cut.
