to hell in a handbasket

短语

发音

AU

别名

to hell in a handcart

释义与例句

phr.
  1. 1.

    To go to a bad state of affairs quickly.

    习语 非正式

    I watched as the guy in charge did nothing and the whole place went to hell in a handbasket.

词源

Images in church iconography suggest similar phrases may date back to 1515. The first attestation is from 1682, the variation to hell in a handcart is attested since 1841, and a phrase similar to to heaven in a wheelbarrow is first attested in 1618. The popularity of the variation "to hell in a handbasket" may be connected to its alliteration.

来源：wiktionary