Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

(Amelia) #1

go flooeyGo to go blooey.


Go fly a kite!Go to Go chase yourself!


go for brokein. to choose to risk every-
thing; to try to succeed against great
odds. I feel lucky today. I’ll go for broke.
We decided to go for broke, and that is
exactly how we ended up.


Go for it!exclam. Do it!; Try it! Go for
it! Give it a try! It looked like something
I wanted to do, so I decided to go for it.


go for the fencesin.to set extremely high
goals and do whatever is needed to meet
them. (Alludes to attempting to hit a
home run against the fences of a baseball
stadium.) Think big! Go for the fences!
We are going to go for the fences on this
one. Don’t hold back on anything.


Go fry an egg!Go to Go chase yourself!


Go fuck yourself!exclam. Go to hell!; Get
out of here! (Taboo. Usually objection-
able.) Go fuck yourself, you creep! 
You worthless mungshit. Go fuck yourself!


go-gettern. an energetic person. Wa lly
is a real go-getter. He’ll go places. Sally
was really cut out to be a go-getter.


goggle-eyed and googly-eyed[“gaglaId
and “gugliaId] mod. alcohol intoxicated
and staring. Wally was goggle-eyed and
couldn’t stand up. He’s too googly-eyed
to drive home.


go-go[“gogo] 1. mod. having to do with
fast-dancing young women on display in
a nightclub. I worked as a go-go girl for
a while. Those go-go places have mostly
changed their style. 2. mod. vigorous; en-
ergetic; frantically moving. He’s a real
go-go guy, always up to something. I
bought some silly go-go stock, and it col-
lapsed immediately.


go great gunsin. to do very well; to go
very fast. Everything is going great guns
around here. We’re busy and making lots
of money. The project is finally going
great guns, just as we planned.


go haywire 1. in. [for a person] to go
berserk. I thought for a minute that Pete
was going to go haywire. Sorry, I guess
I just went haywire for a minute. 2. in.


[for something] to go out of order; to
break down. My stereo’s gone haywire.
I’m afraid my car’s gone haywire. It
won’t start.
go home in a boxin. to be shipped home
dead. Hey, I’m too young to go home in
a box. You had better be careful on this
camping trip, or you’ll go home in a box.

go home to mamain. to give up some-
thing—such as a marriage—and return
to one’s mother’s home. I’ve had it. I’m
going home to mama. Mary left him
and went home to mama.
going highn. a long-lasting type of drug
high. (Drugs.) Freddie had a going high
and was in trouble. Gert was always af-
ter a real going high.
going over 1. n. an examination. After
a thorough going over, the doctor pro-
nounced me alive. I gave your car a good
going over, and I fixed a lot of little things.


  1. n. a beating. Sam gave the guy a
    terrible going over. After a going over
    like that, the guy spent two weeks in the
    hospital.


goings-onn. happenings; events. There
are sure some strange goings-on around
here. Some big goings-on downtown tied
up the traffic.
go into orbitin. to become very excited. 
Wow, I thought the manager was going to
go into orbit, she was so mad. The en-
tire staff went into orbit when they got the
news.

Go jump in the lake!Go to Go chase
yourself!
goldn. money. (See also ducats.) Do you
have enough gold to pay the bill? There’s
no gold in my pockets.
goldbrick 1. n. a lazy person. Pete is just
a lazy goldbrick. Tell that goldbrick to
get back to work. 2. in. to be lazy; to shirk
one’s duty. Stop goldbricking and get
back to work. Whoever is goldbricking
when I come back gets a real talking to.

goldbrickern. a loafer. (Also a term of ad-
dress.) Larry is such a goldbricker! 
Get moving, you goldbrickers.

go flooey

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