To go to wrack and ruin; be lost or destroyed: Bache was in danger of going down the chute with the price of silver/ speaks of a whole generation going down the tube/ and all of that is going right down the drain/ Should the Government sanction the act of simply sending taxpayers' dollars straight down the gurgler?/ Our foreign policy would not be down the toilet (entry form 1963+, chute 1940s+, drain 1925+, toilet 1980s, tubes 1970s)