go for broke

go for broke

English

Etymology

From Hawaiian Pidgin craps slang, meaning “to wager everything on one roll”: one would be broke, i.e. bankrupt, if one lost.[1]

Popularized by the movie Go for Broke! (1951), which is named for the 442nd Infantry Regiment’s unit motto.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

go for broke (third-person singular simple present goes for broke, present participle going for broke, simple past went for broke, past participle gone for broke)

1. To wager everything.
2. (idiomatic) To try everything possible or do every last thing possible in a final attempt.
   • 1931 September 19, "Loui", “Want a Lot of Action? See Barefoot Games”, in Honolulu Star-Bulletin‎, Honolulu, HI, page 11:

     These shoeless gladiators "shoot the works" or as they themselves term it "go for broke" in each game. They battle for every inch ...

   • 1975, C.W. McCall and Chip Davis (lyrics), “Convoy”, in Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall:

     Well, we shot the line and we went for broke
     With a thousand screamin' trucks
     An' eleven long-haired Friends a' Jesus
     In a chartreuse microbus.

Translations

to wager everything

German: alles aufs Spiel setzen Serbo-Croatian: sve staviti na kocku (idiom), igrati na sve ili ništa (idiom)

to try everything possible in a final attempt

French: tenter le tout pour le tout German: alles auf eine Karte setzen (de) Italian: tentare il tutto per tutto Serbo-Croatian: sve uložiti na jednu kartu (idiom) Spanish: echar el resto Swedish: satsa allt på ett kort

See also

• go all out
• go for it
• go for the burn
• here goes nothing

References

1. The movie Go for Broke!, which popularized this phrase, gives this etymology.