kibosh
pronunciation
How to pronounce kibosh in British English:
UK [ˈkaɪbɒʃ]
How to pronounce kibosh in American English:
US [ˈkaɪbɑʃ]
-
- Verb:
- stop from happening or developing
Word Origin
- kibosh (n.)
- 1836, kye-bosk, in British English slang phrase put the kibosh on, of unknown origin, despite intense speculation. The earliest citation is in Dickens. Looks Yiddish, but its original appearance in a piece set in the heavily Irish "Seven Dials" neighborhood in the West End of London seems to argue against this. One candidate is Irish 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"]. Or the word might somehow be connected with Turkish bosh (see bosh).
Example
- 1. You always have to kibosh at a kibosh sign .
- 2. I 'll try to kibosh time always .
- 3. Why can 't we kibosh the fisticuffs ?
- 4. The two ladies kibosh for a time in the frozen foods section .
- 5. Another such injury will put the kibosh on his athletic career .