crash and burn

present singular third person crashes and burns · participle present crashing and burning · participle past crashed and burned · past crashed and burned

1. informalTo fail utterly.

   Near-synonyms: go up in flames, go up in smoke, come to nought, come to nothing

   2 more examples

   Crash and burn, huh, Mav?

   1986, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Top Gun (motion picture), spoken by Slider (Rick Rossovich)

   What these figures show you is how badly the Tory dream has crashed and burned. Not only do fewer Britons now own shares than they did in Thatcher’s time, but also in the capital owner-occupiers (both with mortgages and without) will soon be an outright minority.

   2016 April 26, Aditya Chakrabortty, “More rent than pay a mortgage: the Tory dream for London has crashed and burned”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: go down in flames, go up in flames, go up in smoke, come to nought, come to nothing

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see crash, and, burn.

   Near-synonym: go down in flames

   Synonyms: go down in flames