"go down the tubes" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "goes down the tubes",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "going down the tubes",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "went down the tubes",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gone down the tubes",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "go<goes,,went,gone> down the tubes"
      },
      "expansion": "go down the tubes (third-person singular simple present goes down the tubes, present participle going down the tubes, simple past went down the tubes, past participle gone down the tubes)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English euphemisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The entire plan went down the tubes when they found they couldn't get strawberries in December.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990 February 4, Pam Mitchell, quoting Susan Moir, “Pro-Union And Queer”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 17:",
          "text": "Meanwhile, Susan's own workplace shut down, and she found herself \"on the street with no job and a two-year-old kid. I was trying my damndest and I was going right down the tubes.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of go down the toilet: to fail; to degenerate rapidly."
      ],
      "id": "en-go_down_the_tubes-en-verb-wmRCfyet",
      "links": [
        [
          "go down the toilet",
          "go down the toilet#English"
        ],
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ],
        [
          "degenerate",
          "degenerate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(euphemistic, idiomatic, US) Synonym of go down the toilet: to fail; to degenerate rapidly."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "to fail; to degenerate rapidly",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "go down the toilet"
        },
        {
          "word": "go down the tube"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "euphemistic",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-go down the tubes.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/96/En-au-go_down_the_tubes.ogg/En-au-go_down_the_tubes.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/En-au-go_down_the_tubes.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "go down the tubes"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "goes down the tubes",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "going down the tubes",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "went down the tubes",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gone down the tubes",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "go<goes,,went,gone> down the tubes"
      },
      "expansion": "go down the tubes (third-person singular simple present goes down the tubes, present participle going down the tubes, simple past went down the tubes, past participle gone down the tubes)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English euphemisms",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The entire plan went down the tubes when they found they couldn't get strawberries in December.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990 February 4, Pam Mitchell, quoting Susan Moir, “Pro-Union And Queer”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 17:",
          "text": "Meanwhile, Susan's own workplace shut down, and she found herself \"on the street with no job and a two-year-old kid. I was trying my damndest and I was going right down the tubes.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of go down the toilet: to fail; to degenerate rapidly."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "go down the toilet",
          "go down the toilet#English"
        ],
        [
          "fail",
          "fail"
        ],
        [
          "degenerate",
          "degenerate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(euphemistic, idiomatic, US) Synonym of go down the toilet: to fail; to degenerate rapidly."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "to fail; to degenerate rapidly",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "go down the toilet"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "euphemistic",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-go down the tubes.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/96/En-au-go_down_the_tubes.ogg/En-au-go_down_the_tubes.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/En-au-go_down_the_tubes.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "go down the tube"
    }
  ],
  "word": "go down the tubes"
}