to go to the dogs
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To go to utter ruin, morally or materially; to become impover- ished.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to go to the dogs” mean?
To go to utter ruin, morally or materially; to become impover- ished.
Is “to go to the dogs” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.