circle the drain

Like this video? Subscribe to our free daily email and get a new idiom video every day!

circle the drain

To be in a state of severe deterioration such that one is approaching inevitable ruin, failure, or death. Usually used in the continuous form. The company's closure was inevitable, as it has been circling the drain for the last six months. Her political career began to circle the drain after news of her affair came to public light. He was already circling the drain when the decision was made to take him off life support.

See also: circle, drain

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

ˌcircle the ˈdrain

(American English) (usually used in the progressive tenses) if something circles the drain it continues to become worse so that it may not be able to survive much longer: It appears the governor’s political career is circling the drain.

See also: circle, drain

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

circling

verb

See circling the drain

See also: circle

circling (the drain)

tv. & in. to be in the final process of dying; to be in extremis. (Jocular but crude hospital jargon.) Get Mrs. Smith’s son on the phone. She’s circling the drain.

See also: circle, drain

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.