go down the tubes

present singular third person goes down the tubes · participle present going down the tubes · past went down the tubes · participle past gone down the tubes · alternative go down the tube

1. USeuphemisticidiomaticSynonym 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.

   1 more example

   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."

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

   Synonyms: go down the toilet