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.

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.

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

See also

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