Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
crowded to the wall
English answer:
Gone to the wall (Bankrupt)
English term
crowded to the wall
This is from Willa Cather's "A Lost Lady", set in 19th C. Midwest. The above sentence describes a man whose business failed in a once thriving town. I couldn't find the meaning of being "crowded the wall". I'd appreciate your help.
| 4 +5 | Gone to the wall (Bankrupt) |
Lara Barnett
|
Dec 31, 2021 16:26: Lara Barnett changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"
Jan 2, 2022 19:34: Lara Barnett Created KOG entry
PRO (3): philgoddard, BdiL, Lara Barnett
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Responses
United Kingdom
www.lingocraft.co.uk
Native in: English (Variants: Irish, Singaporean, UK, South African, British, Scottish) 
Works in: French to English, Italian to English, Romanian to English, and 2 more.
Gone to the wall (Bankrupt)
"Go to the wall"
1. To go bankrupt.
If the company loses money again this quarter, it will go to the wall sooner than later.
2. To steadfastly support someone or something regardless of any suffering one might incur as a result.
I would go to the wall for you, so I'll certainly endorse you on the campaign trail.
3. To yield or submit to someone or something.
Despite putting forth our best effort, we went to the wall and came home losers.
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/gone to the wall
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Note added at 58 mins (2021-12-31 10:47:27 GMT)
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* “And it behoves us to see that they're given a fair chance to develop clean and wholesome bodies without which any nation must go to the wall.”
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/another-word-for/went_to_t...
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Note added at 59 mins (2021-12-31 10:48:09 GMT)
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Or fail, go into receivership, go the rocks...etc
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Note added at 1 hr (2021-12-31 10:53:53 GMT)
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"So far, four energy firms have GONE TO THE WALL, and four more are expected to follow in the coming days. On Sunday, the UK's sixth largest energy company, Bulb, announced it is seeking a bailout."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58620167
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Note added at 1 hr (2021-12-31 10:55:55 GMT)
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"CROWD OUT"
"To become stronger or more successful than another group so that they fail or can no longer compete with you.
* The old inhabitants are being crowded out by rich young professionals.
* Traditional industries were crowded out with the growth of mass tourism."
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/crowd...
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Note added at 1 hr (2021-12-31 10:56:51 GMT)
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I.E:
This seems to be a blend of these two idioms, used together.
Reference comments
United Kingdom
Patents and related material specialist
Native in: English (Variants: UK, British, Scottish)
Works in: German to English, French to English, Swedish to English, and 4 more.
Note from scholarly edition of A Lost Lady
https://cather.unl.edu/writings/books/0024#r73
From Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (6 ed.)
The WEAKEST go to the wall
A saying with a much contested origin, though most commonly said to derive from the installation of seating (around the walls) for the old and feeble in the churches of the late Middle Ages in a time when the congregation routinely stood in the nave for services (quot. 1955). Other suggestions for the derivation involve being forced against the walls of the buildings lining a narrow medieval thoroughfare either in a fight or because one’s physical frailty was such that one was pushed aside by the crush in the middle of the street, which was, on one theory, considered the most agreeable place to walk. To go to the wall means figuratively ’to succumb in a conflict or struggle’.
| Great help! Thanks a lot for the reference and comment, Alison. Happy New Year :) |
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