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go west

 - 5 dictionary results

west

  [west]
Use go west in a Sentence
–noun
1. a cardinal point of the compass, 90° to the left when facing north, corresponding to the point where the sun is seen to set. Abbreviation: W
2. the direction in which this point lies.
3. (usually initial capital letter) a region or territory situated in this direction, esp. the western part of the U.S., as distinguished from the East: a vacation trip through the West.
4. (initial capital letter) the western part of the world, as distinguished from the East or Orient; the Occident.
5. (initial capital letter) the non-Communist countries of Western Europe and the Americas.
–adjective
6. directed or proceeding toward the west.
7. coming from the west: a west wind.
8. lying toward or situated in the west.
9. Ecclesiastical. designating, lying toward, or in that part of a church opposite to and farthest from the altar.
–adverb
10. to, toward, or in the west: The car headed west.
11. from the west: The wind blew west.
—Idiom
12. go west, Informal. to die.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE; c. D, G west, ON vestr; cf. F ouest, OF < OE
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Slang Dictionary
go West

  1. in.
    to die. : When I go West, I want flowers, hired mourners, and an enormous performance of Mozart's “Requiem.”
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

west 
O.E. west "in or toward the west," from P.Gmc. *wes-t- (cf. O.N. vestr, O.Fris., M.Du., Du. west, O.H.G. -west, only in compounds, Ger. west), from PIE *wes- (source of Gk. hesperos, L. vesper "evening, west"), perhaps an enlarged form of base *we- "to go down" (cf. Skt. avah "downward"), and thus lit. "direction in which the sun sets." Cf. also High Ger. dial. abend "west," lit. "evening." Fr. ouest, Sp. oeste are from Eng. West used in geopolitical sense from World War I (Britain, France, Italy, as opposed to Germany and Austria-Hungary); as contrast to Communist Russia (later to the Soviet bloc) it is first recorded in 1918. West Indies is recorded from 1555. The verb wester "to go west" is recorded from c.1374; westerly first recorded 1577 in both its (somewhat contradictory) senses of "coming from the west" and "facing toward the west."

go west 
19c. British idiom for "die, be killed" (popularized during World War I), "probably from thieves' slang, wherein to go west meant to go to Tyburn, hence to be hanged, though the phrase has indubitably been influenced by the setting of the sun in the west." [Partridge]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

go west

Die, as in He declared he wasn't ready to go west just yet. This expression has been ascribed to a Native American legend that a dying man goes to meet the setting sun. However, it was first recorded in a poem of the early 1300s: "Women and many a willful man, As wind and water have gone west."

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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