go up in smoke

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go up in smoke (third-person singular simple present goes up in smoke, present participle going up in smoke, simple past went up in smoke, past participle gone up in smoke)

1. To catch fire and burn.
2. (idiomatic, by extension) To be completely ruined, devastated, or reduced to nothingness.

   Near-synonym: evaporate

   When the bank refused the credit, all our plans went up in smoke.

   • 1976, Joni Mitchell, Song for Sharon:

     There's a gypsy down on Bleecker Street
     I went in to see her as a kind of joke
     And she lit a candle for my love luck
     And eighteen bucks went up in smoke

• (be ruined): burn down, burn up, come to nothing, end in smoke, go up in flames