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Glite Dictionary
to go to town

to go to town

27 4.5
Do something with a lot of energy and excitement, often in a big, showy way
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : darlo todo
  • I just really went to town shopping and I got so much stuff.
  • really went to town
  • just went to town
  • Let's go to town

So he's just, he's going to town on that lunch.

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Examples

  • The chef went to town on the dinner, creating an extravagant feast for the guests.

  • Both men pop open beers, and Richard goes to town on a hamburger.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Grab at it and really go to town!

    Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (2011)

  • With all this, I really went to town on the twinkly lights guys.

  • So now the Economist is really going to town with this.

    Harvard University

  • We went back to camp, showered, and went to town to celebrate our arrival.

    Blog text (6)

  • When Jesus approached the woman at the well, his disciples had gone to town to buy food.

    Blog text (8)

  • She really went to town on her painting, adding vibrant colors and intricate details.

  • After she received feedback, she went to town revising her report, making it much better.

Synonyms

to go all out
vsto go to town
39 4.1

To try as hard as you can with a lot of energy

emphasizes thoroughness and often produces impressive or excessive results
to go great guns
vsto go to town
  • Archaic
1 6.6

To move forward with great speed and success

focuses on thorough energetic work that may produce excessive results

Antonyms

half-heartedly
4 4.3

In a way that shows little interest or energy

How Enthusiastic

to overdo
58 3.6
to go to town
  • Informal
27 4.5
to give a go
  • UK
1 4.1
to try
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

go to town infinitive
going to town present participle
goes to town third person singular
went to town past
gone to town past participle

Morphology

go + to + town

A B1 learner who knows 'go', 'to' and 'town' would most likely interpret the phrase literally as traveling to a town, so the idiomatic sense of doing something with great enthusiasm or thoroughness is not directly derivable. However, the idiom is partly motivated by 'go' as undertaking an action and a metaphorical sense of going to a place of activity (i.e. 'going all out'), so there is some recognizable link but not full predictability without exposure.

Etymology

Go to town comes from people in the countryside who would go into a nearby town to shop, party, and spend a lot. Because they did everything in a big, energetic way when they went, 'go to town' now means 'do something with a lot of energy or do as much as possible'.