down the hatch

Idioms  

1. Drink up, as in “Down the hatch,” said Bill, as they raised their glasses. This phrase, often used as a toast, employs hatch in the sense of “a trap door found on ships.” [Slang; c. 1930]

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Example Sentences

“Breaking wind going up the hatch was okay. It was the people below you who suffered. But going down the hatch kept you in the cloud the whole way down.”

From Washington Post • Aug. 15, 2021

Diners at Koks tend not to be timid eaters; with rare exceptions, the mealworms go down the hatch.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 11, 2018

And indeed, once, when Leo was playing in the attic, he tumbled down the hatch and hit his head.

From New York Times • Oct. 19, 2016

But as enormous as the B-52 is on the outside, once you fold down the hatch and clamber up the ladder into the dark interior, it is anything but spacious.

From BBC • Dec. 9, 2015

I happen to know Ruth May doesn’t even swallow hers all the time: once I saw her hide it behind her side teeth when she opened wide to show Mother it was down the hatch.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver