Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

go south

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.31 in modern English

Syllables: go -south
IPA

11

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

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

verb

To make an escape; to disappear.

Intransitive verb

verb

To give somebody oral sex.

Slang

verb

To rathole: to take chips off the table in a cash game without exiting the game completely, especially with the intention of limiting losses.

Slang

Example Sentences

"I should have walked away from the casino when my luck went south, but I stayed and ended up in the hole."
"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 […]"
"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."
"He won! A disbeliever, from childhood, in the frequency of miracles, he gathered up seven hundred and forty dollars and "went south" with it."
"[…]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."

Etymology

(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.

Usage

Inflected Forms

goes south (present, singular) going south (participle, present) went south (past) gone south (participle, past)

Synonyms

go downhill go left head south move south turn south atrophy break down crack decline deteriorate degenerate devolve

Questions

What does go south mean?: To become unfavorable; to decrease; to take a turn for the worse.
Where does go south come from?: (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.

How to pronounce go south

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