go bad—
1. (of perishable products) become unfit for consumption or use:
- Fish and meat soon go bad in hot weather.
2. be unsuccessful:
- It sometimes happened, Gertrude admitted, that an artist’s work went bad and she lost interest in him.
3. stop functioning:
- They know how to record and the tapes are good, but not long ago their machine went bad and they didn’t know it.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase go to the bad—
1. become completely immoral:
- Vince sobbed that it was too late and he had already “gone to the bad.”
2. have financial difficulties:
- The collapse of Enron acts as a reminder that socially bad companies often go to the bad financially, too.
go badly — = go bad 2:
- It felt like the work went badly this time, but other people seemed impressed with how much we achieved.