go west

Etymology
In reference to death, originally Scottish, reaching broader usage among the soldiers of World War I. In reference to Manifest Destiny in the United States, a paraphrase of 's 25 Aug. 1838 advice in  that young men should "Go to the West" if free to do so.

Verb

 * : to move toward the western horizon, to go down.
 * , Glassinberry, poem preserved in Gray's Manuscipt:
 * Women and mony wilsome wy, As wynd or wattir ar gane west...
 * 1) * 1833 Oct., ''Johnstone's Edinburgh Magazine, p. 89:
 * The Irish, and the Scottish Highlanders, always describe persons lately dead as having gone west.
 * 1) * 1914 Dec. 31, , p. 4:
 * Does any one know the origin or meaning of the soldiers' curious phrase for death, ‘Going West’?
 * 1) * 1918, Siegfried Sassoon, How to Die", Counter-Attack and Other Poems:
 * You'd think, to hear some people talk, That lads go West with sobs and curses, And sullen faces white as chalk... But they've been taught the way to do it... With due regard for decent taste.
 * 1) * 2008 June 17, Anchorage Daily News, p. A9:
 * Jack has ‘gone west’. He died peacefully in the loving arms of his son.
 * 1)  To be lost, destroyed, or otherwise ruined.
 * 2) * 1919 Sept., Blackwood's Magazine, p. 368:
 * Their parcels... went persistently ‘west’.
 * 1)  To move to the American West, particularly  during the  era.
 * 2) * 1856 May, Wisconsin Farmer, p. 209:
 * It reminds me of the advice that gave to a young man that was applying for a clerkship. He said, ‘Young man, go West’.
 * 1) * 1870 Aug. 20, O.C. Kerr, Punchinello, p. 323:
 * Go West, young man! Buy a good, stout farming outfit... and then go out to the far West upon Government-land.
 * 1) * 1992 Dec. 1, San Diego Union-Tribune, p. E1:
 * Go west, young man. But stop before you get to California.
 * Their parcels... went persistently ‘west’.
 * 1)  To move to the American West, particularly  during the  era.
 * 2) * 1856 May, Wisconsin Farmer, p. 209:
 * It reminds me of the advice that gave to a young man that was applying for a clerkship. He said, ‘Young man, go West’.
 * 1) * 1870 Aug. 20, O.C. Kerr, Punchinello, p. 323:
 * Go West, young man! Buy a good, stout farming outfit... and then go out to the far West upon Government-land.
 * 1) * 1992 Dec. 1, San Diego Union-Tribune, p. E1:
 * Go west, young man. But stop before you get to California.
 * 1) * 1992 Dec. 1, San Diego Union-Tribune, p. E1:
 * Go west, young man. But stop before you get to California.