went the distance

Verb

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

1. To participate in a boxing match for its maximum number of rounds.
   • "In a way it's like the quality of muscle and heart that enables some prizefighters to go the distance—twenty, thirty, forty rounds, say," Dick concurred.1915, Jack London, chapter 20, in The Little Lady of the Big House
2. (broadly, idiomatic) To have the endurance to see a difficult, sustained challenge to its natural end without faltering.
   • "Do you notice how every one is trying to avoid the subject of the war? . . . I am sure they cannot keep it up."
     "They won't go the distance," Julian whispered.1920, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 4, in The Devil's Paw