go belly up
Meaning: to fail completely; to go bankrupt.
Language: English
Literally: to go belly up
Category: Animals
Origin: Built on something any angler or pond-keeper has seen: a dead fish floats inverted. Decomposition fills the swim bladder with gas while the denser muscle running along the back pulls the spine downward, so the body rolls over and the pale belly surfaces — an unmistakable signal, readable at a distance, that the fish is dead. "Belly up" simply meaning dead is the older figurative use in American English. The now-dominant application to businesses, banks, and ventures that collapse came later and became especially common across the twentieth century, when a failed enterprise could be described as having gone belly up in precisely the way a fish in a tank does: suddenly, visibly, and past any hope of recovery.
More idioms — Animals
- bark up the wrong tree — to pursue a wrong course; to blame the wrong person.
- get your ducks in a row — to organize yourself; to prepare systematically.
- in a pig's eye — absolutely not; never; expressing strong disagreement.
- like a fish out of water — uncomfortable or awkward in a situation; out of one's element.
- bury the hatchet — to make peace; to settle a dispute.
- a nose for something — a talent for finding or recognizing something; keen instinct.
More English idioms
- wear your heart on your sleeve — to display emotions openly; to be transparent about feelings.
- mad as a box of frogs — completely crazy; chaotic and unpredictable.
- have the wool pulled over your eyes — to be deceived or fooled.
- not worth your salt — incompetent; not deserving of wages or respect.
- stick your oar in — to interfere in someone else's affairs; to meddle.
- lower your guard — to relax defenses; to become vulnerable.
From our compliments & insults
- Che rompiscatole — What an insufferable pest — someone who endlessly pesters and never lets you be.
- Testa quadrata — A rigid, inflexible blockhead who refuses to see beyond their fixed ideas.
- È un mammone — An overgrown man who can't make a decision without his mother — the Italian archetype of…