1
general::
Phrase(s): go up in flames [and] go up in smoke
1. Lit. to burn up completely. • The entire forest went up in flames! • The expensive house went up in smoke. 2. Fig. [for value or investment] to be lost suddenly and totally. • Everything we own has gone up in flames with the stock crash. • The entire investment went up in smoke.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Also, go up in smoke. Be utterly destroyed, as in This project will go up in flames if the designer quits, or All our work is going up in smoke. This idiom transfers a fire to other kinds of destruction. [Early 1900s]
American Heritage Idioms