Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A check, end, or stop.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The form, manner, style, or fashion of something; the thing: as, that is the proper kibosh; full dress is the correct kibosh for the opera.
- To finish off; knock out; squash completely; end.
- To throw kibosh, or Portland cement, upon (carved stonework) with a blowpipe and a brush, so as to enhance the shadows.
- noun Something indefinite; a thing of any kind not definitely conceived or intended: as, I'll give him the kibosh
- noun The thing in question; the stuff: as, that's the proper kibosh. Hence, specifically.
- noun The stuff used in filling cracks or giving finish or shadow to architectural sculptures, namely, Portland cement.
- noun Wages; money. Eng. Dial. Dict. (s. v. kybosh).
- noun Affectation; display; pretense.
- noun Stuff; nonsense; rubbish; bosh.
- noun To put the finishing touches on; perfect (one) in his trade.
- noun Intransitively, to do one's best.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Slang Nonsense; stuff; also, fashion; style.
- noun Portland cement when thrown or blown into the recesses of carved stonework to intensify the shadows.
- noun [Slang] to dispose of; to squelch; to terminate; put an end to; to do for.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun slang A
checking orrestraining element .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb stop from happening or developing
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Let me suggest the Hebrew word kavash as a possible origin of the slang word kibosh.
The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004
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Let me suggest the Hebrew word kavash as a possible origin of the slang word kibosh.
The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004
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I love that word kibosh, reminds me so much of Joe Davola.
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Spencer Parsons: "A little less than a year since the first public screenings, Warner Bros. has called the kibosh on performances of Brad Neely's Wizard People, Dear Reader, though no official legal action has been taken, and none appears imminent."
GreenCine Daily 2009
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Spencer Parsons: "A little less than a year since the first public screenings, Warner Bros. has called the kibosh on performances of Brad Neely's Wizard People, Dear Reader, though no official legal action has been taken, and none appears imminent."
GreenCine Daily 2009
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In the second place, there is nothing whatever in the connotation of "kibosh" that would prevent it appearing in the pages of your magazine.
"I do not enjoy the suggestion that you have a better ear or eye for how I want my words to read than I do." Ann Althouse 2008
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She said, "Oh, don't tell them that, because you know that will put the 'kibosh' on it, and kill the whole thing."
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And it took us only one day to put the "kibosh" on that particular scheme.
Two Thousand Stiffs 1907
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And all the time I was praying that the kid wouldn't wake up, come down out of the cab, and put the "kibosh" on me.
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And all the time I was praying that the kid wouldn't wake up, come down out of the cab, and put the "kibosh" on me.
john commented on the word kibosh
What you put on things to stop them.
April 14, 2008
chrissykp commented on the word kibosh
A recurring antagonist in some of the 'Casper the Friendly Ghost' movies is named Kibosh. He's the king of the ghosts and a stickler for rules, which often leads to conflict with Casper and his "uncles".
April 17, 2012
BennoMekimi commented on the word kibosh
Given kibosh's early-19th c. entry into English, I wager its provenance from Arabic's kurbash - whip, riding crop, lash. Heritage gives the following as well: '1836, kye-bosk, in slang phrase put the kibosh on, of unknown origin, despite intense speculation. Looks Yiddish, but origin in early 19c. English slang seems to argue against this. One candidate is Ir. caip bháis, caipín báis "cap of death," sometimes said to be the black cap a judge would don when pronouncing a death sentence, but in other sources identified as a gruesome method of execution "employed by Brit. forces against 1798 insurgents" Bernard Share, "Slanguage, A Dictionary of Irish Slang".'
May 18, 2013
alexz commented on the word kibosh
From Charles Dickens aka 'Boz'
http://books.google.ca/books?id=QTYYAAAAYAAJ 1837 "Put the Kye-bosh on her, Mary" p. 85
according to this book
http://books.google.ca/books?id=K18XAAAAYAAJ page 220, in the footnotes,
it comes from the name of an Irish Weapon
"Put the Gai- Bolga on him" they think it's an Americanism, but it's really from a Dickens book.
Wiki article about the Belly impaling weapon. Gae-Bolga
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A1e_Bulg
May 19, 2013
tripod2000 commented on the word kibosh
In gaelic the caidhp bháis (pronounced a number of ways as always but kye-p wawsh is probably most useful) means cap of death. To put the kibosh on something is to put the cap of death on it.
January 9, 2015
bilby commented on the word kibosh
Standard-bearer for the People's Republic of Folk Etymologies, dis one.
January 10, 2015
qms commented on the word kibosh
From Ben Zimmer’s review in the Wall Street Journal of the book Origins of Kibosh:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/putting-the-kibosh-on-an-old-riddle-the-source-of-the-phrase-1514564107
December 30, 2017