Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. exhausted, worn out.

c.1629		R. Brome City Wit III i: Shee’s very farr gone I feare, how do you find her disease Sir?
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 39/2: Our stomachs used to ache with the hunger, and we would cry when we was werry far gone.
1883		Entr’acte Apr. in Ware (1909) 127/2: Miss Gilchrist, who has now matured into a well-formed young woman, is what I should call a vocal defaulter, her singing being ‘far gone’.
1959		A. Zugsmith Beat Generation 13: She was pretty far gone.
1964		S. Woodward Paper Tiger 189: They said the buzz-bombs were thick that day but I was too far gone to be frightened.
1996		J. Cameron It Was An Accident 142: We climbed up there some more and I was far gone.

2. (also far along) drunk or otherwise intoxicated; also adv.

1741		‘Conny Keyber’ An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews 49: Parson Williams would be pretty far gone.
1830		W. Carleton ‘The Station’ Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry II 295: Our readers must assist us with their own imagination, and suppose the night as well as the guests, to be somewhat far gone.
1850		Thackeray Pendennis II 43: You didn’t say a word that anybody could comprehend – you were too far gone for that.
1853		Dickens ‘Slang’ in Household Words 24 Sept. 75/2: For the one word drunk [...] far-gone, tight, not able to see a hole through a ladder, three sheets in the wind [etc.].
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 75/2: As for Joe and myself, we were too far gone to venture an appearance at the hotel.
1870		Mercury (Hobart) 23 Apr. 2/5: [from the Stranraer Free Press] [...] far gane [sic], mortal blin’, helpless.
1890		Kipling ‘Black Jack’ in Soldiers Three (1907) 106: I made feign to be far gone in dhrink.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 36: His mother, influenced by that unwonted quartern of gin the occasion sanctioned, wept dismally over her boy, who was much too far gone to resent it.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 49: You can guess how far along I was when I did n’t shy at it.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 27 Dec. 14/2: A woman sitting in the bar was far gone, and only smiled a vacant but friendly smile when I spoke to her.
1904		Kipling ‘The Bonds of Discipline’ in Traffics and Discoveries 69: ‘I can’t open my eyes, or I’ll be sick,’ said the Marine with appalling clearness. ‘I’m pretty far gone.’.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight.
1962		B. Veeck Veeck — as in Wreck 35: [M]y visitors were thoughtful enough to bring along their flasks. [...] when my father and mother arrived, I was so far gone that I didn’t know who they were.
1978		J. Webb Fields of Fire (1980) 21: This dude is so far gone he could take a picture of me and still not remember me.
1988		P. Califia Macho Sluts 30: That one looked too far gone for Maybelline or methadone to fix what was wrong with her.
1993		A. Rodriguez Spidertown (1994) 56: You said a girl called. I was too far gone to get the scoop. What happened? When did she call?
1995		J. Stahl Permanent Midnight 269: When the phone rang I was so far gone it took fifteen minutes to remember where it was.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 85: He was far-gone blitzed.

3. mad, eccentric, insane.

1857		J.E. Ritchie Night Side of London 51: She is too far gone to have any decency left. Drink and sadness combined have tortured her brain to madness.
1933		N. West ‘Miss Lonelyhearts’ in Coll. Works (1975) 269: Some of you, perhaps, consider yourself too far gone for help.
1953		J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 126: If a guy was that far gone, there wasn’t much use in trying to use him.
1959		A. Sillitoe ‘The Fishing-Boat Picture’ Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1960) 86: I [...] became even too far gone to turn religious or go on the booze.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 203: The guy’s so far gone, he’d let us yank out his kidneys if we wanted.

4. intensely in love.

1861		Hills & Plains I 37: ‘A few more turns will finish Ochter; he is very far gone. [...] I wonder whether she really likes him?’.
1978		R. Charles Brother Ray 81: [W]e strolled around Tampa, holding hands, talking about how much we loved each other. I mean, we were far gone.