"go west" meaning in English

See go west in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-go west.ogg [Australia] Forms: goes west [present, singular, third-person], going west [participle, present], went west [past], gone west [participle, past]
Etymology: In reference to death, originally Scottish, reaching broader usage among the soldiers of World War I. In reference to Manifest Destiny in the United States, a paraphrase of Horace Greeley's 25 Aug. 1838 advice in The New Yorker that young men should "Go to the West" if free to do so. Head templates: {{en-verb|go<goes,,went,gone> west}} go west (third-person singular simple present goes west, present participle going west, simple past went west, past participle gone west)
  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see go, west.
    Sense id: en-go_west-en-verb-G-e75uoI
  2. (of the sun) Synonym of set: to move toward the western horizon, to go down. Synonyms: set [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-go_west-en-verb-oulMN570
  3. (figuratively, dated) Synonym of die. Tags: dated, figuratively Synonyms: die [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-go_west-en-verb-Jgv0bhAQ
  4. (figuratively, dated) To be lost, destroyed, or otherwise ruined. Tags: dated, figuratively
    Sense id: en-go_west-en-verb-nqBxb6or
  5. (US) To move to the American West, particularly (historical) during the 19th century era. Tags: US
    Sense id: en-go_west-en-verb--MSGKO3R Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 3 23 9 5 60

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for go west meaning in English (6.4kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "In reference to death, originally Scottish, reaching broader usage among the soldiers of World War I. In reference to Manifest Destiny in the United States, a paraphrase of Horace Greeley's 25 Aug. 1838 advice in The New Yorker that young men should \"Go to the West\" if free to do so.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "goes west",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "going west",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "went west",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gone west",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "go<goes,,went,gone> west"
      },
      "expansion": "go west (third-person singular simple present goes west, present participle going west, simple past went west, past participle gone west)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Go west until you hit the ocean, then turn left.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see go, west."
      ],
      "id": "en-go_west-en-verb-G-e75uoI",
      "links": [
        [
          "go",
          "go#English"
        ],
        [
          "west",
          "west#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1400, The Laud Troy Book, l. 13365",
          "text": "For hit was nyght, the sonne goth west",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, W.H. Henderson, Augusta Locke, page 263",
          "text": "I see the rocks set in the sky, and maybe the sun going west, and the trees getting dark.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of set: to move toward the western horizon, to go down."
      ],
      "id": "en-go_west-en-verb-oulMN570",
      "links": [
        [
          "set",
          "set#English"
        ],
        [
          "move",
          "move"
        ],
        [
          "western",
          "western"
        ],
        [
          "horizon",
          "horizon"
        ],
        [
          "go down",
          "go down"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(of the sun) Synonym of set: to move toward the western horizon, to go down."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of the sun"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "to move toward the western horizon, to go down",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "set"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "a. 1532, Glassinberry, poem preserved in Gray's Manuscipt",
          "roman": "As wynd or wattir ar gane west...",
          "text": "Women and mony wilsome wy,"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1833 Oct., Johnstone's Edinburgh Magazine, p. 89",
          "text": "The Irish, and the Scottish Highlanders, always describe persons lately dead as having gone west."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1914 Dec. 31, The Times, p. 4",
          "text": "Does any one know the origin or meaning of the soldiers' curious phrase for death, ‘Going West’?"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, Banjo Paterson, Moving On",
          "text": "In this war we're always moving,\nMoving on;\nWhen we make a friend another friend has gone...\nWhen the bravest and the best\nOf the boys you know \"go west\",\nThen you're choking down your tears and\nMoving on.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, Siegfried Sassoon, How to Die\", Counter-Attack and Other Poems",
          "text": "You'd think, to hear some people talk,\nThat lads go West with sobs and curses,\nAnd sullen faces white as chalk...\nBut they've been taught the way to do it...\nWith due regard for decent taste."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 June 17, Anchorage Daily News, p. A9",
          "text": "Jack has ‘gone west’. He died peacefully in the loving arms of his son."
        },
        {
          "text": "Och, your ma's gone west, dearie. You'll hear her voice no more.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of die."
      ],
      "id": "en-go_west-en-verb-Jgv0bhAQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "die",
          "die#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively, dated) Synonym of die."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "die"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1916, Boyd Cable, Action Front, page 167",
          "text": "The glare of a burning house shone red in the sky over the roof tops. 'Somebody's 'appy 'ome gone west', remarked one man.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1919 Sept., Blackwood's Magazine, p. 368",
          "text": "Their parcels... went persistently ‘west’."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. II",
          "text": "Socialism? Ha! ha! ha! Where’s the money to come from? Ha! ha! ha! The lords of property were firm in their seats, and they knew it. But after the French collapse there came something that could not be laughed away, something that neither cheque-books nor policemen were any use against—the bombing. Zweee—BOOM! What’s that? Oh, only a bomb on the Stock Exchange. Zweee—BOOM! Another acre of somebody’s valuable slum-property gone west.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976, Rosamond Lehmann, Sea-Grape Tree, page 42",
          "text": "I had a dinky [handkerchief], but it went west earlier this evening. Soaked, dear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be lost, destroyed, or otherwise ruined."
      ],
      "id": "en-go_west-en-verb-nqBxb6or",
      "links": [
        [
          "lost",
          "lost"
        ],
        [
          "destroy",
          "destroy"
        ],
        [
          "otherwise",
          "otherwise"
        ],
        [
          "ruined",
          "ruined"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively, dated) To be lost, destroyed, or otherwise ruined."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 23 9 5 60",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1856 May, Wisconsin Farmer, p. 209",
          "text": "It reminds me of the advice that Mr. Secretary Corwin gave to a young man that was applying for a clerkship. He said, ‘Young man, go West’."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1870 Aug. 20, O.C. Kerr, Punchinello, p. 323",
          "text": "Go West, young man! Buy a good, stout farming outfit... and then go out to the far West upon Government-land."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992 Dec. 1, San Diego Union-Tribune, p. E1",
          "text": "Go west, young man. But stop before you get to California."
        },
        {
          "text": "Go west, young man!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To move to the American West, particularly (historical) during the 19th century era."
      ],
      "id": "en-go_west-en-verb--MSGKO3R",
      "links": [
        [
          "move",
          "move"
        ],
        [
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          "American"
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        [
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        [
          "particularly",
          "particularly"
        ],
        [
          "era",
          "era"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US) To move to the American West, particularly (historical) during the 19th century era."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-go west.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2a/En-au-go_west.ogg/En-au-go_west.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/En-au-go_west.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Horace Greeley",
    "The New Yorker"
  ],
  "word": "go west"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "In reference to death, originally Scottish, reaching broader usage among the soldiers of World War I. In reference to Manifest Destiny in the United States, a paraphrase of Horace Greeley's 25 Aug. 1838 advice in The New Yorker that young men should \"Go to the West\" if free to do so.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "goes west",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "going west",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "went west",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gone west",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "go<goes,,went,gone> west"
      },
      "expansion": "go west (third-person singular simple present goes west, present participle going west, simple past went west, past participle gone west)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Go west until you hit the ocean, then turn left.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see go, west."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "go",
          "go#English"
        ],
        [
          "west",
          "west#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1400, The Laud Troy Book, l. 13365",
          "text": "For hit was nyght, the sonne goth west",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, W.H. Henderson, Augusta Locke, page 263",
          "text": "I see the rocks set in the sky, and maybe the sun going west, and the trees getting dark.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of set: to move toward the western horizon, to go down."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "set",
          "set#English"
        ],
        [
          "move",
          "move"
        ],
        [
          "western",
          "western"
        ],
        [
          "horizon",
          "horizon"
        ],
        [
          "go down",
          "go down"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(of the sun) Synonym of set: to move toward the western horizon, to go down."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of the sun"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "to move toward the western horizon, to go down",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "set"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "a. 1532, Glassinberry, poem preserved in Gray's Manuscipt",
          "roman": "As wynd or wattir ar gane west...",
          "text": "Women and mony wilsome wy,"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1833 Oct., Johnstone's Edinburgh Magazine, p. 89",
          "text": "The Irish, and the Scottish Highlanders, always describe persons lately dead as having gone west."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1914 Dec. 31, The Times, p. 4",
          "text": "Does any one know the origin or meaning of the soldiers' curious phrase for death, ‘Going West’?"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, Banjo Paterson, Moving On",
          "text": "In this war we're always moving,\nMoving on;\nWhen we make a friend another friend has gone...\nWhen the bravest and the best\nOf the boys you know \"go west\",\nThen you're choking down your tears and\nMoving on.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, Siegfried Sassoon, How to Die\", Counter-Attack and Other Poems",
          "text": "You'd think, to hear some people talk,\nThat lads go West with sobs and curses,\nAnd sullen faces white as chalk...\nBut they've been taught the way to do it...\nWith due regard for decent taste."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008 June 17, Anchorage Daily News, p. A9",
          "text": "Jack has ‘gone west’. He died peacefully in the loving arms of his son."
        },
        {
          "text": "Och, your ma's gone west, dearie. You'll hear her voice no more.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of die."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "die",
          "die#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively, dated) Synonym of die."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
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          "word": "die"
        }
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      "tags": [
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1916, Boyd Cable, Action Front, page 167",
          "text": "The glare of a burning house shone red in the sky over the roof tops. 'Somebody's 'appy 'ome gone west', remarked one man.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1919 Sept., Blackwood's Magazine, p. 368",
          "text": "Their parcels... went persistently ‘west’."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. II",
          "text": "Socialism? Ha! ha! ha! Where’s the money to come from? Ha! ha! ha! The lords of property were firm in their seats, and they knew it. But after the French collapse there came something that could not be laughed away, something that neither cheque-books nor policemen were any use against—the bombing. Zweee—BOOM! What’s that? Oh, only a bomb on the Stock Exchange. Zweee—BOOM! Another acre of somebody’s valuable slum-property gone west.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1976, Rosamond Lehmann, Sea-Grape Tree, page 42",
          "text": "I had a dinky [handkerchief], but it went west earlier this evening. Soaked, dear.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be lost, destroyed, or otherwise ruined."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "lost",
          "lost"
        ],
        [
          "destroy",
          "destroy"
        ],
        [
          "otherwise",
          "otherwise"
        ],
        [
          "ruined",
          "ruined"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively, dated) To be lost, destroyed, or otherwise ruined."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1856 May, Wisconsin Farmer, p. 209",
          "text": "It reminds me of the advice that Mr. Secretary Corwin gave to a young man that was applying for a clerkship. He said, ‘Young man, go West’."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1870 Aug. 20, O.C. Kerr, Punchinello, p. 323",
          "text": "Go West, young man! Buy a good, stout farming outfit... and then go out to the far West upon Government-land."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1992 Dec. 1, San Diego Union-Tribune, p. E1",
          "text": "Go west, young man. But stop before you get to California."
        },
        {
          "text": "Go west, young man!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To move to the American West, particularly (historical) during the 19th century era."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "move",
          "move"
        ],
        [
          "American",
          "American"
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        [
          "West",
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        ],
        [
          "particularly",
          "particularly"
        ],
        [
          "era",
          "era"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US) To move to the American West, particularly (historical) during the 19th century era."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-go west.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2a/En-au-go_west.ogg/En-au-go_west.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/En-au-go_west.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Horace Greeley",
    "The New Yorker"
  ],
  "word": "go west"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.