kibosh

Where does the word "kibosh" come from? It comes from Irish caidhp bháis, and was adopted directly into English (1830s).

Kibosh’s story begins in Irish: caidhp bháis meant “cap of death.” 'cap of death', the black cap a judge put on to pass a death sentence; one proposed source among several (Yiddish and the heraldic 'caboshed' are others), so the origin is unsettled. It reached English by 1830s as kibosh. First recorded in Charles Dickens's Sketches by Boz (1836) as 'kye-bosk'. Today, kibosh means (put the kibosh on) to put a decisive end to something.

1. Stage 1 · Irish · 1800s caidhp bháis "cap of death", 'cap of death', the black cap a judge put on to pass a death sentence; one proposed source among several (Yiddish and the heraldic 'caboshed' are others), so the origin is unsettled.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1830s kibosh "something that ends a matter", first recorded in Charles Dickens's Sketches by Boz (1836) as 'kye-bosk'.