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3. go down like ninepins

go down like ninepins

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go down/fall like ninepins

  (British old-fashioned)

to be injured, or to fail in large numbers

Usage notes: Ninepins is a game in which you try to make bottle-shaped objects fall by rolling a ball at them.

(usually in continuous tenses) I've never seen so many players injured. They were going down like ninepins.

See also: down, like