put the kibosh on

verb

To halt, stop, or squelch.

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

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Meanings

verbput 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)

present singular third person puts the kibosh on · participle present putting the kibosh on

  1. slangtransitiveTo halt, stop, or squelch.

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

    3 more examples

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

    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

    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.

    1914, Mark Sheridan, “Belgium Put the Kibosh on the Kaiser”

    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.

    2023 September 8, Carl Wilson, “The Olivia Rodrigo–Taylor Swift "Beef" Is Really About Something Deeper”, in Slate, archived from the original on 09 Sep 2023

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
bring an end tobring to an endcall a haltfoilput a block onput a lid onput an end toput a stop toscotch

Origin

See kibosh.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: put the kibosh on on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.