🗓️ Idiom: Go Belly Up
💬 Meaning
- To fail completely, especially a business.
- It means something has stopped working or gone bankrupt.
🧠 Example Sentences
- The supplier went belly up last month and left us without key materials.
- If we don’t fix this issue soon, the whole logistics plan could go belly up.
- Many small transport companies went belly up during the economic downturn.
🏛️ Origin
The idiom comes from the image of a dead fish floating with its belly facing upward. In business, it’s used to describe companies or projects that fail completely or go bankrupt.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
The logistics firm __________ after losing its biggest client.
Answer
went belly up
2. Choose the correct meaning of “go belly up”:
A) To become very successful
B) To take a short break
C) To fail or go bankrupt
D) To increase in value
Answer
C) To fail or go bankrupt
3. Rewrite the sentence using the idiom:
“The courier company failed after years of poor management.” → Change the sentence using: go belly up
Answer
The courier company went belly up after years of poor management.
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