From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgo up in smokego up in smokea) if something goes up in smoke, it burns so that it is completely destroyed The whole factory went up in smoke. b) informalFAIL if a plan or some work goes up in smoke, it fails or you cannot continue with it We haven’t worked this long just to see everything go up in smoke. → smoke
Examples from the Corpus
go up in smoke• After Warrington they've got to be careful or we might be blown up in smoke.• For the yards owner, it was 25 years of work up in smoke.• That's well over £5,000 up in smoke - or, to be exact, an average £44.66 a month.• If so, what happens when Buckingham Palace, Sandringham or Balmoral go up in smoke?• Before she could throw the water into the wastepaper basket, the reports had gone up in smoke.• Its mosque went up in smoke.• Three hundred tons of freshly harvested hay and straw went up in smoke.• Such deliberation, while the youth of Britain were liable to go up in smoke, outraged many. 