come to grief

English[edit]

come to grief (third-person singular simple present comes to grief, present participle coming to grief, simple past came to grief, past participle come to grief)

(idiomatic) To suffer a disastrous outcome.
- J. R. R. Tolkien
  These elves and half-elves and wizards, they would come to grief perhaps.
- 1960 March, H. P. White, “The Hawkhurst branch of the Southern Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 170:
  Immediately beyond Churn Lane the climb begins at 1 in 78, steepening to 1 in 66. Speed soon falls and a number of heavy hop-pickers' specials have come to grief here.

to have a disastrous outcome