put the kibosh on

English

Etymology

See kibosh.

Pronunciation

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Verb

put the kibosh on (third-person singular simple present puts the kibosh on, present participle putting the kibosh on, simple past and past participle put the kibosh on)

1. (slang, transitive) To halt, stop, or squelch.

   Someone really needs to go put the kibosh on that noisy party.

   • 1837, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Sketches by Boz: Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. The Second Series, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, chapter SEVEN DIALS, page 149:

     ("Hoo-roa," ejaculates a pot-boy in a parenthesis, "put the kye-bosh on her, Mary.")

   • 1914, Mark Sheridan (lyrics and music), “Belgium Put the Kibosh on the Kaiser”:

     For Belgium put the kibosh on the Kaiser; / Europe took the stick and made him sore; / On his throne it hurts to sit, / And when John Bull starts to hit, / He will never sit upon it any more.

   • 2023 September 8, Carl Wilson, “The Olivia Rodrigo–Taylor Swift "Beef" Is Really About Something Deeper”, in Slate‎^[1], archived from the original on 9 September 2023:

     I'm not sure how it became a trope to call second albums "sophomore." But if Olivia Rodrigo's debut, Sour, hadn't become one of the biggest releases of 2021, winning her a Grammy for best new artist and putting the kibosh on her post–high school plans, the 20-year-old might be a literal sophomore now.

Anagrams

• put on the kibosh