go to the wall
To make an all-out effort.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“They will go to the wall to win this game.”
“I will go to the wall to help you find a new job.”
“The team decided to go to the wall to finish the project before the deadline.”
“The lawyer promised to go to the wall to prove her client was innocent, even if it meant working through the entire weekend.”
“Community members are ready to go to the wall to prevent the city from cutting down the ancient trees in the local park.”
“Facing total bankruptcy, the small business owner chose to go to the wall, exhausting every resource to save the company he had built over decades.”
The idiom arises from the literal military predicament of a force retreating until no further movement is possible. It describes a combatant driven back to a physical barrier, leaving the choice of a final stand or total defeat. This sense of terminal collapse is reinforced by the common law retreat to the wall doctrine, which dictates that a person must attempt to flee until physically obstructed by a boundary before lethal self-defence is legally permissible.
- 01
all dressed up and nowhere to go
Elaborately attired or otherwise fully prepared for an anticipated situation or activity which, nevertheless, fails to occur.
- 02
all systems go
Everything is ready.
- 03
as you go
While one is doing (something); as one progresses.
- 04
back to the wall
A very difficult situation with no beneficial options available for action.
- 05
balls to the wall
With maximum effort or commitment.
- 06
bang one's head against a brick wall
To waste effort on a futile project.
- 07
blue wall of silence
Strict secretiveness maintained by the members of a police force with respect to information which might be contrary to their interests, especially information concerning questionable police actions.
- 08
boldly go where no man has gone before
To break new ground.
Last updated August 10, 2026