phrasal verbs - Meaning of "go down"



What's the meaning of go down?



Little did anyone know, the 47-year-old Silicon Valley executive was actually engaged in a giant scam...He was finally caught by Target security on May 8, and he was arraigned on Tuesday on four counts of burglary.


sad pathetic way to go down.




Answer



(by request)


This particular sense of go down means to "go down in flames", like a fighter plane shot down.


It refers (metaphorically, of course) to being caught and prosecuted and convicted and going to prison. Being brought down to disgrace and shame is the same metaphor.


UP is GOOD ~ DOWN is BAD


It's one of our basic metaphors, because humans are oriented in a gravitational field, and most metaphors are ultimately projections of the human body.


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