# go to the wall

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/go-to-the-wall
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

To make an all-out effort.

## Examples

- 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.

## Origin

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.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.