go great guns

present singular third person goes great guns · participle present going great guns · past went great guns · participle past gone great guns

1. idiomaticintransitiveTo perform particularly well; to be particularly successful.

   The film is bound to go great guns on video and fans of the early Travolta movies like Saturday Night Fever and Grease should be first in the queue.

   1988 March 12, Alasdair Marshall, “Video: Dancing the Night Away”, in Evening Times, Scotland, retrieved 05 Nov 2010, page 6

   2 more examples

   The game between Hargate and Lord Dreever was still in progress when Jimmy returned to the billiard-room. . . . "Hargate's been going great guns. I was eleven ahead a moment ago, but he made a break of twelve."

   1910, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 17, in The Intrusion of Jimmy

   I gave him my putter earlier this year in Oklahoma City. He was having trouble on the greens and I said, ‘Here, try this.’ He did, and he’s been going great guns ever since.

   1964 June 16, Arnold Palmer, quotee, “All Eyes On Lema At U.S. Open This Week”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 22

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see go, great guns. (To move or proceed very quickly or energetically.)

   Sam Fuller and the crew of New York Clipper continue to go great guns and retain a comfortable lead as they approach the south eastern tip of Cuba.

   2002 December 4, “Cuba Beckons: Clipper Race 2002”, in International Sailing Federation (www.sailing.org), retrieved 05 Nov 2010