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Influence & Involvement - Ending

Explore English idioms that relate to endings, including "wither on the vine" and "swan song".

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English idioms related to Influence & Involvement
swan song
swan song
[noun]

the last important thing that a person does before their retirement or death

Ex: The legendary musician's farewell concert was considered his swan song, a perfect culmination of his career. 
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to [be] all up
to be all up
[phrase]

(of any finite resource) to be completely or nearly finished

Ex: The party was all up by the time I arrived, and most people had already gone home. 
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to [bring] {sth} to naught

to cause something to fail in achieving any success or fulfilling any expectation

Ex: Despite his ambitious plans, unexpected setbacks brought his dreams of entrepreneurship to naught. 
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to [come] to naught

to completely fail to achieve any success or fulfill one's expectation

Ex: Despite their hard work, the project came to naught due to unforeseen challenges. 
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to [call] it a day

to stop working or participating in an activity, usually at the end of the day or when one feels that they have done enough

Ex: After hours of painting the house, they decided to call it a day and finish the job tomorrow. 
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to [draw] a line under {sth}

to decide to put an end to something by dealing with it

Ex: After the heated argument, the family decided to draw a line under the disagreement and focus on reconciling. 
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{sb} has left the building

used to say that a person has definitely left an activity or place and will not change their mind about it

Ex: After the intense argument, John announced that he had left the building and would no longer engage in the dispute. 
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to [lay|put] {sth} to rest

to prove to someone that what they believe in or think about is not true

Ex: After a thorough investigation, the police were able to put the rumors of foul play to rest and confirm it was an accident. 
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to [pull] the plug

to prevent the occurrence or continuation of an activity

Ex: When the funding ran out, the organization had no choice but to pull the plug on their research project. 
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to [put] paid to {sth}

to make something end, particularly by ruining what was planned

Ex: The unexpected rainstorm put paid to our beach vacation plans. 
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to [put] the brakes on

to prevent something from happening or making more progress

Ex: Faced with rising costs, the company had to put the brakes on their ambitious expansion plans. 
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to [give] {sth} a rest

to put a sudden stop to something one was doing for some time

Ex: I have been giving team fishing a rest this season. 
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to [kiss] {sth} goodbye

to accept the fact that one has lost something and might never be able to get it back

Ex: When she missed her flight, she had to kiss her vacation plans goodbye. 
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to [give] up {sth} as a bad job

to decide that it is impossible to help something succeed because there seems to be no hope

Ex: After months of flooding, the construction workers had to give up rebuilding the damaged bridge as a bad job. 
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to [kiss] {one's} [ass] goodbye

to prepare oneself for death, dismissal, etc.

Ex: I knew I'd kissed my ass goodbye after I talked back to the sergeant during training. 
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to [close] the [book] on {sth}

to put an end to something, particularly something bad, that has been going on for some time

Ex: Detectives had closed the book on the Hornsey Murders case three years previously. 
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a thing of the past

something that does not exist or happen anymore due to being replaced by something more modern or desirable

Ex: With the advent of digital cameras, film photography has become a thing of the past for most people. 
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to [wipe] {sb/sth} off the (map|face of the earth)

to remove or destroy someone or something completely

Ex: The natural disaster had the power to wipe entire towns off the map, leaving behind only debris. 
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to [go] out the (of|) window

(of a quality, idea, or principle) to not longer exist or be forgotten

Ex: When the unexpected financial crisis hit, the company's expansion plans went out the window. 
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to [wither] on the vine

(of a plan or course of action) to fail to succeed or produce the expected results

Ex: The once-promising startup began to wither on the vine when it failed to secure additional funding. 
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