go to town
Idioms-
Also, go to town on.
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Do something efficiently and energetically. For example, She really went to town, not only developing and printing the film but making both mat and frame . [Early 1900s]
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Act without restraint, overindulge, as in He went to town on the hors d'oeuvres, finishing nearly all of them . [Early 1900s]
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Be successful, as in After months of hard work, their business is really going to town . [Mid-1900s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I was really surprised to hear that we were going to town because I didn’t get to go to town but about once in ever so long.
From Literature
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“Rowdy,” I said, in a hard voice, “you get down out of that buckboard. You can’t go to town with us. What’s the matter with you anyway?”
From Literature
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He glanced at Rowdy and then turned to me and said, “I don’t see why Rowdy couldn’t go to town with us. Lots of people take their dogs to town.”
From Literature
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“Say,” Grandpa said, all excited, “I just thought of something. Your grandma’s been wanting to go to town. Tomorrow is a good day for it. Now—if you and your father can come up and take care of the store for me, your mother and Daisy could ride in with us. The train that runs from Tahlequah to Oklahoma City doesn’t leave until the middle of the afternoon. We’d get them there in plenty of time to catch it.”
From Literature
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Of course, the internet is going to jump in and go to town on the documents, turning even these grim revelations into a meme.
From Slate
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.