kibosh
Syllables: ki·boshUK/ˈkaɪˌbɒʃ/US/ˈkaɪˌbɑʃ/
kibosh noun: only used in put on the kibosh and put the kibosh on: something which checks or restrains.
Noun (1)
kibosh (uncountable)
- Only used in put on the kibosh and put the kibosh on: something which checks or restrains.
- “What do you mean by hussies?” interrupted a champion of the other party, who has evinced a strong inclination to get up a branch fight on her own account. (“Hoo-roa,” ejaculates a pot-boy in a parenthesis, “put the kye-bosh on her, Mary.”)1837, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Seven Dials”, in Sketches by Boz: Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. The Second Series, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, page 149
- Once or twice triumphant memories of the earlier incidents nerve his face for awhile. "I put the ky-bosh on his little game," he remarks.1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Envoy”, in The Wheels of Chance: A Holiday Adventure, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co.; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Co., →OCLC, section XLI, page 312
Verb
kibosh (third-person singular simple present kiboshes, present participle kiboshing, simple past and past participle kiboshed)
- To decisively put a stop to or terminate (someone or something).
- Philly Kiboshes Blackout Tutoring [title] […] Plan of the Pennsylvania State Council of Defense to ring in a State-wide network of 45 stations for an "educational" blackout test, was nixed by the Office of Censorship after it was okayed by the Third Service Command of the army. Skedded for Thursday...1943 July 17, “Philly Kiboshes Blackout Tutoring”, in The Billboard: The World’s Foremost Amusement Weekly, volume 55, number 29, Cincinnati, Oh.: Roger S. Littleford Jr.; William D. Littleford...
- Deal for network star Henry Morgan to sign a Majestic contract for two albums has fallen thru, with Paul Baron, newly-named artist and repertoire topper at the diskery, kiboshing a deal that virtually had been consummated between his predecessors and Music Corporation of America (MCA).1947 September 6, “Paul Baron Nixes 2 Morgan Albums”, in Joseph G. Csida, editor, The Billboard: The World’s Foremost Amusement Weekly, volume 59, number 35, Cincinnati, Oh.: Roger S. Littleford Jr....
Noun (2)
kibosh (uncountable)
- Bosh, nonsense.
- Still I wish you a 'Appy New Year, if you care for the kibosh, old Chappie, / Though 'taint 'Igh Art Cards full o' gush and green paint 'll make you and me 'appy. / Wot we want is lucre and larks, love and lotion as much as you'll carry!1885 January 3, ’Arry [pseudonym], “’Arry on ’Appiness”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume LXXXVIII, London: […] Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 4, column 1
- Gar'n! Gives me the 'ump, all this kibosh 'bout morals, and taste, and all that.1887 April 9, ’Arry [pseudonym], “Studies from Mr. Punch’s Studio. No. XXIV.”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume XCII, London: […] Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 172, column 2
Noun (3)
kibosh (uncountable)
- Chiefly preceded by the: fashion, style.
- She was, in very Sooth, among the highest of the Rollers, but Hiram stood for the Bills with nary a Whimper. He was proud to be the Husband of the Lady Ki-Bosh of the Local Knickerbockers.1904 March, George Ade, “Rugged Hiram and Hiram’s Giddy Wife”, in Breaking into Society, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 34
kibosh meaning in Tamil
kibosh in Tamil
- புறக்கணித்த முடிவு
Examples of kibosh in a sentence
- It's one of my little chores as private secretary to smell out these revolutions and affix the kibosh before they break out and scratch the paint off the government property.1904 November, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Phonograph and the Graft”, in Cabbages and Kings, New York, N.Y.: McClure...
- George put the kibosh on the Kirov case and now he's trying to get it right, flying solo in his old age.1979 November, John le Carré [pseudonym: David John Moore Cornwell], chapter 15, in Smiley’s People (A Borzoi Book), 1st trade edition, New...
- It was being dismantled long before [Theresa] May took office – [David] Blunkett started the rot – but May has the ultimate kibosh.2013 January 31, Saville Kushner, “Letters: The high price society and officers are paying for policing cuts”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor...
- According to [Mark] McCormack, this often amounts to keeping lawyers from kiboshing the deal.1987 December 1, Peter Megargee Brown, “We Have Met the Enemy: The Terrible Truth about Lawyers by Mark H. McCormack, William Morrow, New...
Forms of kibosh
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | cabosh |
| alternative form | kaibosh |
| alternative form | kibbosh |
| alternative form | kiebosh |
| alternative form | kybosh |
| alternative form | kyebosh |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | kiboshes |
| present participle | kiboshing |
| past participle | kiboshed |
| past | kiboshed |
Origin of kibosh
The origin of the noun is uncertain; the following etymologies have been suggested: * According to Gerald Leonard Cohen, Stephen Goranson, and Matthew Little, at present the most likely derivation is as a non-rhotic variant of kurbash (“heavy whip, lash”), from Arabic كُرْبَاج (kurbāj, “lash, whip”), or from its etymon Ottoman Turkish قرباچ (kırbaç, “lash, whip”) (whence Turkish kırbaç (“whip”)). * From Irish caidhp bháis (literally “death cap”), said to denote, among other things, the black cap worn by English judges when pronouncing the death sentence, the hood put on a person before they were put to death by hanging, or a form of torture called pitchcapping. However, there appears to be no convincing evidence that the term was used in these senses. * From a Yiddish word (compare Hebrew כָּבַשׁ (kavásh, “to conquer, subjugate”)); however, no such word has been found. * From Middle English cabochen (“to cut off (the head, chiefly of a deer), behead”), from Middle French cabocher (“to cut off (the head)”), from caboche (“the head”) (Northern France, informal) (whence Middle English caboche (“head of cabbage”)), from Italian capocchia (“the head”) (derogatory), ultimately from...
Possibly a variant of bosh (“nonsense”).
Origin unknown.
Words formed from kibosh
Phrases with kibosh
Questions about kibosh
- What does kibosh mean?
- Kibosh means only used in put on the kibosh and put the kibosh on: something which checks or restrains.
- What is kibosh in Tamil?
- Kibosh in Tamil is புறக்கணித்த முடிவு. See Kibosh meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use kibosh in a sentence?
- It's one of my little chores as private secretary to smell out these revolutions and affix the kibosh before they break out and scratch the paint off the government property.
- What part of speech is kibosh?
- Kibosh can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce kibosh?
- Kibosh is pronounced /ˈkaɪˌbɒʃ/ (UK).
Words near kibosh in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kibosh (page history and authors); kibosh (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-kibosh.ogg.
Cite this entry: “kibosh.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kibosh. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.