ring down the curtain
ring down the curtain verb: to end something.
Verb
ring down the curtain (third-person singular simple present rings down the curtain, present participle ringing down the curtain, simple past rang down the curtain, past participle rung down the curtain)
- To end something.
- Ring down the curtain on To-day And give the Past the right of way, Till fields of battle red with rust, Shine through the ashes and the dust Across the Age, and burn as plain As glowing Mars through window-pane.1876, Josiah Gilbert Holland, Richard Watson Gilder, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine - Volume 12, page 360
- And although he is impatient with the Beat pose, uniform, and rhetoric, he too disaffiliates himself and prepares to "ring down the curtain on the American dream."1964, William Wasserstrom, Civil Liberties and the Arts: Selections from Twice a Year, 1938-48
- To mark the end of something.
- But tonight the Union veteran of Maryland clasps hands with the rebel veteran of Missouri, and the gap is closed. In this supreme moment the imperfect welding of the broken Union is perfected at last, and from this hour the seam of the joining shall no more be visible. The long tragedy is ended —...2006, Mark Twain, Paul Fatout, Mark Twain Speaking, →ISBN, page 219
- Life is too difficult. O. Greenbaum, H. Knape, T. Kornflower, J. Davenport, all would agree that “Life is but the span from womb to tomb; a sigh, a smile; a chill, a fever; a throe of pain, a spasm of volupty: then a gasping for breath, and the comedy is over, the song is ended, ring down the...2012 -, Nathanael West, The Dream Life of Balso Snell, →ISBN
Examples of ring down the curtain in a sentence
- Now Tyrone, in mixed charity and despair, tries to ring down the curtain on the tragic farce of his son's life.2000, Edward L. Shaughnessy, Down the Nights and Down the Days: Eugene O'Neill's Catholic Sensibility, →ISBN:
- Churchill rebutted any and all suggestions that the British ring down the curtain on their empire.2000, Edward R. Kantowicz, Coming Apart, Coming Together, →ISBN, page 3:
- The long tragedy is ended — ring down the curtain!2006, Mark Twain, Paul Fatout, Mark Twain Speaking, →ISBN, page 219:
Synonyms of ring down the curtain
Antonyms
Forms of ring down the curtain
| third-person singular present | rings down the curtain |
|---|---|
| present participle | ringing down the curtain |
| past | rang down the curtain |
| past participle | rung down the curtain |
Origin of ring down the curtain
In reference to ringing a bell to end a performance. See ring up the curtain.
Questions about ring down the curtain
- What does ring down the curtain mean?
- Ring down the curtain means to end something.
- How do you use ring down the curtain in a sentence?
- Now Tyrone, in mixed charity and despair, tries to ring down the curtain on the tragic farce of his son's life.
- What part of speech is ring down the curtain?
- Ring down the curtain is a verb.
- What is the past tense of ring down the curtain?
- The past tense of ring down the curtain is rang down the curtain.
Words near ring down the curtain in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ring down the curtain (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-ring down the curtain.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ring down the curtain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ring_down_the_curtain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.