slang. Also kybosh, kyo-bosh. [Origin obscure.
(It has been stated to be Yiddish or Anglo-Hebraic: see N. & Q., 9th ser. VII. 10.)]
1. In phr. To put the kibosh on: to dispose of finally, finish off, do for.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Seven Dials. ‘Hoo-roar,’ ejaculates a pot-boy in a parenthesis, ‘put the kye-bosk [sic] on her, Mary.’
1856. Punch, XXXI. 139. (To put the cibosh upon).
1891. C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 9. It was attending one of these affairs which finally put the ‘kibosh’ on me.
2. Nonsense, ‘rot,’ stuff, humbug.
1873. Slang Dict., s.v., ‘It’s all kibosh,’ i.e., palaver or nonsense.
1885. Punch, 3 Jan., 4/1. Still I wish you a ’Appy New Year, if you care for the kibosh, old Chappie.
3. The proper style or fashion; ‘the thing.’
1889. in Cent. Dict.
1896. in Farmer, Slang.
Hence Kibosh v. trans., to finish off, ‘do for.’
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, 50 (Farmer). A dig in the ribs and a ’owl, Seemed to kibosh the Frenchmen completely.
