go to pot

Originally a euphemistic reference to pot in its chamber pot sense.

go to pot (third-person singular simple present goes to pot, present participle going to pot, simple past went to pot, past participle gone to pot)

1. (figuratively) To decline or deteriorate.

   They haven't been maintaining it, and the downtown area has really gone to pot over the past 20 years.

2. (archaic) Go to hell. (an angry dismissal)
   • 1837 September 20, William Cullen Bryant, “Calhoun’s Diminished Stature”:

     At this moment the rabbit sprang from his arms and disappeared among the brush wood. "Go to pot," said the man, "you are a good-for-nothing dry-meated beast, to make the best of you."

• (decline or deteriorate): go to shit (vulgar); go to the dogs, go downhill; see also Thesaurus:worsen