go south

present singular third person goes south · participle present going south · past went south · participle past gone south

1. idiomaticTo become unfavorable; to decrease; to take a turn for the worse.

   I should have walked away from the casino when my luck went south, but I stayed and ended up in the hole.

   2 more examples

   I still had 5 miles (8 km) or so to go to cross the river when all of the controls went south. The bird pitched up, shuddered, rolled right like it was going to spin […]

   1967, Bill Sparks, Wild Weasel mission 5 November 1967

   There was only one more guard between her and her goal, and despite her preparation, it almost all went south. The woman walked out of a door Fina hadn't even known was there, nearly bowling her over, and it was all she could do to bring the butt of the rifle up to smash the insurgent's nose in. She cried out, and Fina brought the butt 'round again, and this time the bone must have pierced the brain because the body went limp with a final, plaintive gurgle.

   2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 22 May 2024

   Synonyms: go downhill, go left, head south, move south, turn south, atrophy, break down, crack

2. intransitiveTo make an escape; to disappear.

   He won! A disbeliever, from childhood, in the frequency of miracles, he gathered up seven hundred and forty dollars and "went south" with it.

   1929, Peter B. Kyne, The Parson of Panamint and Other Stories, page 197

   1 more example

   […]she decided to tape the DVD off to VHS and give that to the kids -- that way she could make a fresh VHS copy when the first one went south.

   2004, Cory Doctorow, Microsoft Research DRM talk

3. slangTo give somebody oral sex.
4. slangcard gamesTo rathole: to take chips off the table in a cash game without exiting the game completely, especially with the intention of limiting losses.