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

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
• here goes nothing