- Home
- Idioms
- west
west
knock galley-west
slang To put into a state of chaos or unconsciousness. Primarily heard in US. I got knocked galley-west by that last punch—where am I? Any time my mother visits, my life gets knocked galley-west!
East is East and West is West (and never the twain shall meet).
Prov. Two things are so different that they can never come together or agree. (From Rud-yard Kipling's poem, "The Ballad of East and West.") I had hoped that Andrew and I could be friends in spite of our political differences. But, in our case, I'm afraid that East is East and West is West.
East, west, home's best.
and East or west, home is best.Prov. Home is the best place to be no matter where it is. You may think that traveling all the time is fun, but eventually you'll discover that east or west, home is best.
out West
in the western part of the United States. We lived out West for nearly ten years. Do they really ride horses out West?
go west
1. (old-fashioned) if something goes west, it is destroyed or lost My watch went west when I accidentally dropped it on a concrete floor. That's my chance of seeing the game gone west!
2. (British & Australian old-fashioned) if someone goes west, they die He went west in a plane crash.
go west
Die, as in He declared he wasn't ready to go west just yet. This expression has been ascribed to a Native American legend that a dying man goes to meet the setting sun. However, it was first recorded in a poem of the early 1300s: "Women and many a willful man, As wind and water have gone west."
go West
in. to die. When I go West, I want flowers, hired mourners, and an enormous performance of Mozart’s “Requiem.”