the.com/washout

means A complete failure — an event, plan, or person that fizzles out entirely, often because conditions or capacity gave way.

from Literally a place where running water has eroded and carried off a roadbed, railway, or hillside — leaving a gap where solid ground used to be. From 'wash' (Old English 'wascan,' to cleanse with water) plus 'out.' By the late 19th century the physical sense — a section of track or bank swept away — bled into the figurative one: any undertaking that simply got carried off and left nothing behind. A pilot who failed flight training was 'washed out,' and the rinsing metaphor stuck.