down the tubes

Idioms  

1. Also, down the tube. Into a state of failure or ruin, as in If he failed the test, his chances went down the tubes. ] Colloquial; 1960s] Also see down the drain.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

down the tubes

And this is when New York was having all this financial trouble, and it was gonna go down the tubes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2023

Cohen might consider refreshing her palette before taking the Greeks, in toto, down the tubes again.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 12, 2021

"The commercial drive to develop any products just went down the tubes," said Sheahan.

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2021

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also questioned whether directors should pay themselves "large sums of money" as their businesses go "down the tubes".

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2019

If you go and tell your boss that you’ve found Marburg virus and you are wrong, your career goes down the tubes.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston