in the books

prepositional phrase

Finished; concluded; able to be regarded as a matter of record.

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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. idiomaticFinished; concluded; able to be regarded as a matter of record.

    Two Bird swishes and a Johnny Davis three-point air ball later, the victory was in the books.

    1982 Feb. 3, Bob Ryan, "Parish spruces up Celtics, 109-105," Boston Globe p. S-1 (retrieved 18 March 2013)
    2 more examples

    The 1998 Academy Awards ceremony is in the books, and now that we have had a chance to reflect on the big event, we can put the proceedings in some context.

    1998 May 25, Ted Geltner, “Ocala's Peggy Takacs Wins Big With Oscar Picks”, in Ocala Star-Banner, retrieved 19 Mar 2013, page 1C

    With the presidential debates in the books and a commanding lead in the polls, Barack Obama appears to be coasting toward history.

    2008 October 17, Alex Altman, “The Bradley Effect”, in Time

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
completedonefinished

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 蓋棺論定 /盖棺论定
  • 蓋棺論定 /盖棺论定 (gàiguānlùndìng)finished
Finnish kiveen hakattu
  • kiveen hakattufinished
Cite this entry
APA

in the books. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20books

MLA

“in the books.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20books. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in the books,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20books.

Source: in the books on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.