go west
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go west
1. Of a person, to die. When I go west, I don't want any elaborate funeral services in my honor, OK? My parents want me to come to the hospital and say goodbye to Uncle Eddie—they think he's about to go west. Darling, have faith—the doctors don't think it's your time to go west. They think you'll make a full recovery.
2. Of a machine, to stop working. Can you get a new coffee pot while you're at the mall? Ours has finally gone west. Unfortunately, I think the motor in your lawn mower has gone west. I was going to make a smoothie, but the blender's not working. I hope it hasn't gone west.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
go west
Die, as in He declared he wasn't ready to go west just yet. This expression has been ascribed to a Native American legend that a dying man goes to meet the setting sun. However, it was first recorded in a poem of the early 1300s: "Women and many a willful man, As wind and water have gone west."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
go west
OLD-FASHIONED1. When someone goes west, they die. When he went west, he wanted to be remembered.
2. When something goes west, it stops existing or working. His hopes of a professional singing career went west long ago. Note: The sun `goes west' when it sinks below the horizon in the west at the end of the day. The comparison between going west and dying has been used in many different languages and cultures for many centuries. For example, people sometimes associate this expression with Native Americans, who used to say that a dying person went west to meet the sinking sun.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
go west
be killed or lost; meet with disaster. British informalThe image here is of the sun setting in the west at the end of the day.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
go West
in. to die. When I go West, I want flowers, hired mourners, and an enormous performance of Mozart’s “Requiem.”
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.