toes up

• toes-up

From “toes” + “up”, in reference to a corpse lying on its back.

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toes up (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic, slang, of a person) dead, killed
   • 1862, Charles James Lever, Davenport Dunn, page 119:

     Groves, of the Forty-sixth, is gone "toes up".

2. (idiomatic, slang) broken, completely failed so as to become inactive
   • 2005, Mo Hayder, The devil of Nanking, page 42:

     The land deals in Tokyo've gone toes up since the bubble burst, but the landlord's still trying to push through a deal with a developer.

• PEOTUS, stoupe, toupes