gone for a burton

A thing can be said to have 'gone for a Burton' if it is broken or lost.

Gone for a Burton is a euphemistic phrase meaning to die.

A person who has been said to have 'gone for a Burton' can also have gone missing or failed, rather than died.

Hence anyone who had "Gone for a Burton" was a loss from the RAF's aircrew community.

That bid for Franck Ribery, for a start, has gone for a burton.

We may all have gone for a Burton by tomorrow, ehT Sweet smiled in an effort to cheer Lambert up, but failed to do so.

If I'd gone for a Burton on my second tour, or any time, I think this chap Bristow would be Number Four."

"Besides," he went on, "some damned fool would be bound to blab in the wrong place at the wrong time, and there's the project's security gone for a Burton!

Burton - "Gone for a Burton" - killed in action (from an old beer commercial for Burton Ale)

I'm not sure there's much value in arguing about the meaning of the nasty knocking noise when it's clear that, in any case, the big end has gone for a burton.

"Tom, nip down to Doctor Atkinson's and use his phone and tell the station ours has gone for a burton," said Mr Hodder, not taking his eyes off the three.

The fame of Burton ales gave rise to the English euphemism "gone for a Burton", meaning to have been killed-a World War II humorous suggestion that a missing comrade had merely nipped out for a beer.

Should Barnet fail to beat promoted Rochdale at Underhill next week and Grimsby sustain resurgence by winning at Burton Albion, the Mariners will survive...Barnet's hopes gone for a Burton.

"The Harvest" authentically re-created a harvest field around the turn of the 20th century, while "Gone For a Burton" followed the seasonal trip of East Anglian agricultural workers to work in the Burton upon Trent maltings after the hay and grain harvests.

We asked my cousin if the poor laboratory rats had 'gone for a Burton', and the sally caused to flit across our minds a phrase from The Anatomy of Melancholy condemning gluttony as 'the source of all our infirmities and the fountain of all our diseases'.

Gone for a Burton, was also used by American and RAF WWII crew and pilots of RAF Burtonwood Airbase during the war, the term was referring to the local village of Burtonwood and Burtonwood Ales Brewery.