American, informal

the meat and potatoes - the most important or basic parts of something.

The focus was on jobs, health care, and other meat-and-potatoes issues. (always before noun)

• go down like a lead balloon
• go down like ninepins
• go down that road
• go down the plughole
• go down the tubes
• go down the wrong way
• God rest her soul.
• God rest his soul.
• God rest someone's soul
• God rest soul
• go Dutch
• go easy
• go easy on
• go easy on someone
• go easy on something
• goes for
• goes for someone else
• goes for something else
• goes to show
• goes to show you
• go fall like ninepins
• go figure
• Go fly a kite!
• go for broke
• go for the jugular