circling the drain

circle the drain

To be in a state of severe deterioration such that one is approaching inevitable ruin, failure, or death. Usually used in the continuous form. The company's closure was inevitable, as it has been circling the drain for the last six months. Her political career began to circle the drain after news of her affair came to public light. He was already circling the drain when the decision was made to take him off life support.
See also: circle, drain
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

circling (the drain)

tv. & in. to be in the final process of dying; to be in extremis. (Jocular but crude hospital jargon.) Get Mrs. Smith’s son on the phone. She’s circling the drain.
See also: circle, drain
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • circle the drain
  • be a goner
  • be going to hell
  • kiss of death
  • kiss of death, a/the
  • the kiss of death
  • a gone coon
  • ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for (someone or something)
  • toll
  • a dead cat bounce
References in periodicals archive
For the uninitiated, "circling the drain" means to take a turn for the worse, a "preemie" is a premature infant and "road rash" is abrasions from a fall onto concrete.
10 things you didn't know about ER; WEEKEND TV
Good journalism costs money, and it's no secret that newspapers especially have been circling the drain for years.
All the news that's (un)fit
The 33-year-old is fully committed to the Dons but is dismayed to see his first love circling the drain.
Gary: I will dig deep for old club
The Bruins can't do anything about the upcoming NHL season slowly circling the drain, but they can look to the future, which they did yesterday by signing pesky forward Brad Marchand to a four-year, $18 million contract extension that will keep him in Boston through the 2016-17 season.
$18m for Marchand
"Texas' Women's Health Program may be circling the drain. Sen.
The Midday Brief: May 12, 2011
What Long masterfully achieves is the precise interior focus of a man whose life is circling the drain, and he does this without either high drama or sentimentality." GAIL CALDWELL
The Inhabited World
Last year CSPI bragged that 20,000 reports of "gastrointestinal misery"--"more than all other food additive complaints in history combined"--had been forwarded to the FDA, mostly through CSPI "Olestra may be circling the drain," Michael Jacobson crowed, but it is still "causing too much pain, embarrassment and inconvenience.
The anti-pleasure principle: the "food police" and the pseudoscience of self-denial
CIRCLING THE DRAIN - patient is taking a turn for the worse.
IS OUR WAY OF LIFE; Scots medics are hooked the TV hospital drama - but at Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary they do it for real; We work longer hours and we don't get paid as much...but
As we watch Caden's life disintegrate and literally get consumed by his play, there doesn't seem to be any point except to watch this sad man circling the drain without anything to show for his sorry existence.
Kaufman's `Synecdoche' a challenge even for fans
circling the drain: What a struggling company does just before it goes down the tubes: "Jackson knew the company was circling the drain when he jumped ship."
Words at work