go up in smoke

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

go up in smoke (third-person singular simple present goes up in smoke, present participle going up in smoke, simple past went up in smoke, past participle gone up in smoke)

1. To catch fire and burn.

   Synonyms: go up in flames; see also Thesaurus:combust

2. (idiomatic, by extension) To be completely ruined, devastated, or reduced to nothingness.

   Synonyms: burn down, burn up, come to nothing, end in smoke, go up in flames

   Near-synonym: evaporate

   When the bank refused the credit, all our plans went up in smoke.

   • 1976, Joni Mitchell, Song for Sharon:

     There's a gypsy down on Bleecker Street
     I went in to see her as a kind of joke
     And she lit a candle for my love luck
     And eighteen bucks went up in smoke

Translations

catch fire

• Danish: gå op i røg
• Dutch: in rook opgaan
• Finnish: palaa poroksi
• French: partir en fumée (fr)
• Italian: andare in fumo
• Polish: iść z dymem impf, pójść iść z dymem pf
• Russian: загоре́ться (ru) (zagorétʹsja)
• Swedish: gå upp i rök (sv), gå upp i lågor

be ruined

• Danish: gå op i røg
• Dutch: in rook opgaan
• Finnish: haihtua savuna ilmaan
• Hungarian: füstbe megy (hu)
• Polish: pójść z dymem (pl)
• Portuguese: virar fumaça (literally “to become smoke”)
• Russian: вылете́ть в трубу́ (ru) pf (vyletétʹ v trubú, literally “go up the chimney”), накры́ться ме́дным та́зом (ru) pf (nakrýtʹsja médnym tázom, literally “to be covered wit copper basin”) (slang), пойти́ пра́хом pf (pojtí práxom)
• Spanish: quedar en agua de borrajas
• Swedish: gå upp i rök (sv)