Go for broke

Posted by ESC on March 03, 2004

In Reply to: Go for broke posted by Sax on March 03, 2004

: Hi! Can you please tell me what this means and where it comes from? Thanks, Sax

GO FOR BROKE - "Go all-out; risk everything. 'Broke' in the sense of penniless or financially ruined has been in the language for 300 years or more, but 'go for broke' in the sense of expecting to win all or lose one's last stake is a gambler's term dating back perhaps 100 years. It also turns up in sports in the sense of giving one's utmost, win or lose." From The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).