Kiboshes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. To put an end to something decisively ; to stop or spoil plans, arrangements, or efforts causing them to fail
2. To bring a halt to an activity or intention ; to thwart or ruin hopes, often unexpectedly
3. To decisively terminate a process or action ; to prevent something from succeeding by causing it to fall through

Etymology: Nobody knows for certain where "kibosh" came from, which is part of what makes its history so colourful. The leading candidate is a non-rhotic variant of "kurbash", a heavy leather whip, which passed into English from Arabic "kurbāj" by way of Ottoman Turkish "kırbaç". On this reading, to put the kibosh on something would have been to lay the lash across it. Other proposals are less convincing: one links it to Irish "caidhp bháis", "death cap", supposedly the black cap worn by English judges when passing a death sentence, though no evidence shows the term used that way, and another to a clogmakers' iron bar used to smooth leather. The verb is simply the noun turned into an action, and "kiboshes" is its third-person singular form, so it is the verb that describes someone shutting something down. Whatever its source, the phrase carries the sense of a decisive blow that stops a plan dead, and the word itself has stayed a slangy, informal term ever since it appeared in the language.

Synonyms: stops, halts, cancels

Antonyms: permits, allows