go south
To become unfavorableTo become unfavorable; to decrease; to take a turn for the worse.
» I want to go south for the winter.
Ich will im Winter in den Süden.
На зиму я хочу поехать на юг.
Meaning
4 senses(idiomatic)To 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.
auf dem absteigenden Ast sein
(intransitive)To make an escape; to disappear.
(slang)To give somebody oral sex.
(slang)To rathole: to take chips off the table in a cash game without exiting the game completely, especially with the intention of limiting losses.
Examples
27 sentencesI want to go south for the winter.
ruНа зиму я хочу поехать на юг. — sharptoothed
deIch will im Winter in den Süden. — Headfirst1745
We're going south.
ruМы идём на юг. — marafon
I'm going south.
ruЯ иду на юг. — odexed
And that's when things went south.
It all went south from there.
Translations
3 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
(become worse): The origin is unclear. Common belief attributes it to the standard orienta(become worse): The origin is unclear. Common belief attributes it to the standard orientation of maps, where south is the downwards direction; in this regard, compare also go downhill, decline, and drop off. Alternatively, it could stem from a euphemism used by some Native Americans for dying.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
goes south, going south, went south, gone south| Base form | go south · to go south |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | goes south |
| Present participle | going south |
| Past simple | went south |
| Past participle | gone south |
irregular · Lesson
Synonyms
39 synonymsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, irregular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle