go west

Idioms  

1. 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.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

go west

It also makes much clearer how hard the homesteaders had to work, how desperate they had to be to go west at all, and how cruel and harsh the conditions were.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

Route 66 was 20 years old and World War II had just ended when Bobby Troup, an aspiring songwriter from Pennsylvania, decided to go west.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

Those won’t go west of Oklahoma, though, according to scientists.

From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2024

Story left the Cincinnati area in 1979 to go west and find her biological father, traveling to Las Vegas with two male friends, police said.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 20, 2023

“Traveling by instinct, they would simply go west by the most direct route—straight across country, over the Ironmouth Range.”

From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford

Related Words

• betray
• bolt
• depart
• escape
• flee
• forsake
• give up
• quit
• vacate