close the book on

present singular third person closes the book on · participle present closing the book on · participle past closed the book on · past closed the book on

1. idiomaticTo stop worrying about or trying to do something about; to ignore.

   Roth's continued productivity ensures that we can't yet close the book on his career.

   2011, David Gooblar, The Major Phases of Philip Roth, page 157

   2 more examples

   What greater pleasure for a child than to be able to close the book on all his terrors and go to sleep.

   2012, J.M Masson, The Oceanic Feeling

   I guess it would take a genius to figure that out and perhaps that is why Pilot Insurance Company and General Accident were so content to close the book on this subject.

   2014, Chris Porter, Scapegoat - Scales of Justice Burning, page 37

2. idiomaticTo finish; to bring to an end.

   We do not presume that our reconstruction will close the book on the evolutionary origins of great ape cognition.

   2007, Anne E. Russon, David R. Begun, The Evolution of Thought

   2 more examples

   Michael X's execution seemed to close the book on the revolution that rock stars and radicals alike had been awaiting for the previous decade.

   2009, Peter Doggett, There's a Riot Going On

   The gathering, an unprecedented convocation of rulers, influential diplomats and their entourages, was meant to be a grand ending and a grand beginning—the movers and shakers were looking to close the book on the strife and upheavals of the Napoleonic Wars and begin a new chapter of world peace.

   2011, Andrea Penrose, The Cocoa Conspiracy