to the bow-wows
- idiom
- Archaic
:
a la ruina
- After the scandal, the politician's reputation went to the bow-wows and never recovered.
Examples
-
The project went to the bow-wows after the budget cuts.
-
If we don't act now, this project might go to the bow-wows within months.
-
Their investment strategy took a wrong turn and the portfolio went to the bow-wows.
-
After the scandal, the company's reputation fell to the bow-wows.
-
Without proper maintenance, the building is going to the bow-wows.
-
After the stock market crash, many businesses were thrown into the bow-wows.
-
His careless decisions led the entire project to the bow-wows.
Synonyms
23
3.8
A place or thing that is very badly damaged, often used for buildings and companies
8
9.1
In a very bad state and not doing well, like a business losing money
1
9.9
Completely ruined or wasted and no longer useful
Antonyms
How Ruined
Surface Forms
Morphology
to + the + bow-wows
The element 'bow-wows' is an onomatopoeic term for dog barking and, combined with the prepositional frame, does not transparently signal 'ruin' or 'disaster.' The idiomatic, dated nature of the phrase means its meaning is culturally and historically specific rather than compositional, so a B1 learner who knows the individual words would not reliably infer the intended sense.
Etymology
To the bow-wows may come from the image of dogs making 'bow-wow' noises; if something was left to the dogs it was soon messy or ruined, so to go bow-wows means to fall into 'ruin' or 'disaster'.