n.someone or something that is doomed beyond all
hope or
saving. Gone here means lost, hopeless, ruined,
dead, etc., and can be used with other words, such as
dog and goose, to
create phrases denoting a person or thing in such a
state. These phrases may
derive from an eighteenth century expression, a gone coon,
having the same meaning. (Coon is a shortened
form of raccoon, a small, treeclimbing
animal active at night and
having a black-ringed tail and long yellowish-
gray fur, for which it is hunted.)