Wiktionary

go it alone

English edit

WOTD – 13 November 2017

Etymology edit

go it + alone.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

go it alone (third-person singular simple present goes it alone, present participle going it alone, simple past went it alone, past participle gone it alone)

  1. (colloquial) To do something alone or independently, especially something that is normally or better done in groups.
    He quit working for the company and decided to go it alone as a consultant instead.
    • 1842 June 1, “Notices of Books. Letter on Baptismal Regeneration, addressed through the Rev. Dr. Fletcher, to the Ministers and Members of the Evangelical Pædobaptists. By the Rev. C. Stovel. Pp. 15. Ward and Co.”, in The Primitive Church Magazine for 1841, Advocating the Practice of Strict Communion, and being the Continuation of The Primitive Communionist, volume II, number XVIII, London: Houlston and Stoneman, 65, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 135:
      But can Mr. Stovel conscientiously allow infant sprinkling to be scriptural baptism? and is this the ground on which he would receive pædobaptists to the Lord's table? If he does not, then, instead of going the whole length of free communion, with our pædobaptist friends, he goes it alone.
    • 1952 March 24, “This Could Happen Only in America: A 50th Birthday Message from The Texas Company [advertisement]”, in Life, volume 32, number 12, Chicago, Ill.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 43:
      The Texas Company has gone it alone in the oil business—asking no favors—standing on its own feet—competing for its share of the business by developing and marketing good fuels and lubricants—seeking no secuity except that which it could earn. Other companies have gone it alone in other industries. And we—and they—and America have grown together, beyond anything the world has ever seen.
    • 1997, Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Taylor, “Distribution”, in Cross-cultural Filmmaking: A Handbook for Making Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Videos, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 475:
      Therefore, if you can persuade one public television station to buy your film, consider allowing it to sell the film to others. You'll receive a smaller share of the pie, but it may be the only way to go. And you may end up with much greater exposure than if you went it alone.
    • 2017 March 27, “The Observer view on triggering article 50: As Britain hurtles towards the precipice, truth and democracy are in short supply”, in The Observer‎[1], London, archived from the original on 30 August 2017:
      So now the hard Brexiters say, with astonishingly cynical mendacity, that Britain would be better off going it alone.
    • 2017 May 6, Peter Suderman, “The House health care disaster is really about taxes”, in The New York Times‎[2], archived from the original on 18 September 2017:
      Republicans planned to use the reconciliation process to go it alone on both health care and tax reform.
  2. (card games) To play a hand without the assistance of one's partner.
    • 2014, “Games for Three or More”, in Sarah Tomley, editor, The Card Games Bible: Over 150 Games and Tricks, London: Hamlyn, →ISBN, pages 125–126:
      When the trump suit [in euchre] has been settled, the player who has named it (the maker) has the right to go it alone, but he must announce his intention to do so before a card has been led. His partner places his cards face downwards on the table, and takes no active part in the hand. The maker (he is the only one of the four who can go it alone) plays his hand against the two opponents in partnership.

Usage notes edit

The preposition on is often used after the term in order to indicate what is being done: see, for example, the 6 May 2017 quotation above.

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

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