go to the dickens

1. verbTo be in an extremely and increasingly bad or ruinous condition; to be on the inevitable path to utter failure or ruin. Our project went to the dickens after our funding was cut. With the way he's running things, the company is going to the dickens. This whole presentation is a disaster—it went to the dickens as soon as Mia resigned.

2. verb To fall into moral degradation. It seems like our country is going to the dickens! No one has any basic decency anymore. Don't mind your grandmother—as far as she's concerned, everything went to the dickens in the 1960s. Mom, the kids will not go to the dickens just because they missed one Mass, OK?

3. expression An exclamation of anger, annoyance, or exasperation. If you can't be bothered to run our business like a professional, then you can go to the dickens, for all I care! Did you just insult my mom? Well, you can go to the dickens then! Go to the dickens already, will ya? You're annoying us.