go to the wall
Idioms-
Lose a conflict, be defeated; also, yield. For example, In spite of their efforts, they went to the wall , or When it's a matter of family versus friends, friends must go to the wall . [Late 1500s]
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Fail in business, go bankrupt. For example, First one branch and then another did poorly, and the store finally went to the wall . [First half of 1800s]
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Take an extreme position, hold out to the end. For example, The President went to the wall to defend his choice to head the FBI . For a synonym, see go to the mat .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“We have to go to the wall to defend those private properties, and that is the end of the story,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 21, 2025
Mayo has been a hot head coaching candidate in the past, and Belichick is known to go to the wall for those he really wants to keep.
From Washington Post • Jan. 31, 2023
Thousands of small and medium Kuwaiti businesses could go to the wall after being walloped by the pandemic, potentially torpedoing a private sector central to the country's efforts to remake its unorthodox and oil-pumped economy.
From Reuters • Aug. 12, 2021
Conservative MP Giles Watling, a former actor and panto dame, warns "many provincial theatres will go to the wall, frankly, because that's the time they can make the money".
From BBC • Jul. 1, 2020
In the great contest of life the weaker go to the wall.
From Insanity Its Causes and Prevention by Stearns, Henry Putnam
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
