Word.ws English Dictionary

go for a burton

go for a burton verb: to be killed.

Verb (1)

go for a burton (third-person singular simple present goes for a burton, present participle going for a burton, simple past went for a burton, past participle gone for a burton)

  1. (UK) To be killed.
    • [G]one for a Burton […] has, in the R.A.F., ousted gone West[.] "He is dead" may appear somewhat remote from "He has gone for a glass of Burton": but, then, all euphemisms do, at first, appear remote.1945, Eric H Partridge, “Words Get Their Wings”, in College English, volume 7, number 1, page 27
  2. (UK) To be lost, spoiled or destroyed.

Verb (2) capitalized: go for a Burton

go for a Burton (third-person singular simple present goes for a Burton, present participle going for a Burton, simple past went for a Burton, past participle gone for a Burton)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of go for a burton.

Forms of go for a burton

third-person singular presentgoes for a burton
present participlegoing for a burton
pastwent for a burton
past participlegone for a burton
alternative formgo for a Burton
third-person singular presentgoes for a Burton
present participlegoing for a Burton
pastwent for a Burton
past participlegone for a Burton

Origin of go for a burton

Originated in the RAF in World War II. Unknown beyond that, but may have some association with beer. One version is that it was from a series of ads for Burton's beer which showed a group of people with one missing and the tag line "He's gone for a Burton".

Questions about go for a burton

What does go for a burton mean?
Go for a burton means to be killed.
What part of speech is go for a burton?
Go for a burton is a verb.
What is the past tense of go for a burton?
The past tense of go for a burton is went for a burton.

Words near go for a burton in the dictionary

  1. go figure
  2. go fish
  3. go five-hole
  4. go fly a kite
  5. go for
  6. go for a burton
  7. go for a song
  8. go for a toss
  9. go for an old song
  10. go for broke
  11. go for gold

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: go for a burton (page history and authors); go for a Burton (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “go for a burton.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/go_for_a_burton. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.