From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdown the draindown the draininformalWASTE something a) if time, effort, or money goes down the drain, it is wasted or produces no results Well that’s it. 18 months’ work down the drain. b) if an organization, country etc goes down the drain, it becomes worse or fails That’s why this country’s going down the drain! → drain
Examples from the Corpus
down the drain• Well, there's another fifty dollars down the drain.• Male speaker I fear that safety standards will go down the drain as people seek to make most profit.• And she would die in the bathtub, her blood going down the drain.• There are fears of family life going down the drain, as staff may get only two complete weekends off in seven.• Pour it down the drains if necessary.• You might as well take money and shovel it down the drain.• It may help to twist drain rods when pushing them down the drain.• It foreclosed on the mortgages, and the mill went down the drain.• Dietitians responded by telling cooks to dump yolks down the drain and use the cholesterol-free whites. 