a)if time, effort, or money goes down the drain, it is wasted or produces no results 〔时间、努力或金钱〕白白浪费掉
Well that’s it. 18 months’ work down the drain.
得了,就这么回事了,18个月来的工作就白干了。
b)if an organization, country etc goes down the drain, it becomes worse or fails 〔组织、国家等〕败落,失败
That’s why this country’s going down the drain!
那就是这个国家败落的原因!
Examples from the Corpus
down the drain• Well, there's another fifty dollarsdown the drain.• Malespeaker I fear that safetystandards 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 completeweekends 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 dumpyolksdown the drain and use the cholesterol-free whites.