TO SUIT DOWN TO THE GROUND, verb. phr. (common).—To be thoroughly becoming or acceptable.
1878. M. E. BRADDON, The Cloven Foot, ch. xlv. Some sea coast city in South America would SUIT ME DOWN TO THE GROUND.
1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette, 9 Feb. I knows the very bloke that’ll SUIT YOU DOWN TO THE GROUND.
1891. Sporting Life, 28 March. At Knowle he is SUITED DOWN TO THE GROUND.
1892. MILLIKEN, ’Arry Ballads, p. 11. They SUIT ME RIGHT DOWN TO THE GROUND.
TO WIPE (or MOP) UP THE GROUND (or FLOOR) WITH ONE, verb. phr. (common).—To administer the very soundest thrashing; to prove oneself absolutely superior to one’s opposite.
1887. W. E. HENLEY and R. L. STEVENSON, Deacon Brodie, i., 3. Muck! that’s my opinion of him;… I’ll MOP THE FLOOR UP WITH HIM any day, if so be as you or any on ’em ’ll make it worth my while.
1888. Detroit Free Press, Aug. The Scroggin boy was as tough as a dogwood knot. He’d WIPE UP THE GROUND WITH HIM; he’d walk all over him.
TO GO (or GET) WELL TO THE GROUND, verb. phr. (old colloquial).—To defæcate; to REAR (q.v.). For synonyms, see MRS. JONES.
1608. MIDDLETON, The Family of Love, v. 3. Do you GO WELL TO THE GROUND?
1856. Notes and Queries, 2 S., i., p. 324. To GET TO THE GROUND, in medical phraseology, means to have the bowels opened.
