Where Did the Expression “Put the Kibosh On it” Come From and What Does it Mean?

To “put the kibosh” on something is an Irish expression meaning to put an end to it.

The word kibosh is Gaelic and means “cap of death.”

The cap of death was, in fact, the black skullcap donned by a judge before he sentenced a prisoner to death.

In modern usage it means, as it did to the condemned, “Your path of destruction has ended.”