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#106392 06/24/03 10:22 PM
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I haven't heard this word for a long time. Wow and BYB used it a year ago, but it was not defined. For discussion see:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/kibosh.htm


#106393 06/25/03 03:47 AM
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My husband uses kibosh frequently, but pronounces it KYE-bosh. (He grew up in Pennsylvania and New York states).

I grew up in California and have always heard it pronounced kah-BOSH. To squelch or put a curse on something?

Unexpected thundershowers put the kibosh on our plans to swim the lake.




#106394 06/25/03 07:33 AM
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I've always heard it as 'kyebosh'. Dr Bill's link to Quinion has some interesting history and speculation. Apparently the word was first used here in London and appears in a work by Dickens.


#106395 05/28/04 02:35 PM
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M-W puts the kibosh on both the Yiddish and Irish notions of derivation here: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/mwwod.pl


#106396 07/14/05 01:40 AM
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did someone put the kibosh on posting down here?

I've always said KYE-bosh, too...



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#106397 07/16/05 09:38 PM
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> posting down here

At least the air's cleaner with no obvious iggrification ~ there's no-one putting the kibosh on every thread in sight!


#106398 07/16/05 10:17 PM
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ha, mav! GMTA. :-x


#106399 07/16/05 10:56 PM
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> At least the air's cleaner with no obvious iggrification

'twas my very thought...

<smile>



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#106400 07/22/05 03:56 PM
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Yeah, kinda nice down here below the fold...

I've heard both kah-BOSH and KYE-bosh. Grew up and still live in Ohio.



What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? -Ursula K. Le Guin, author (1929- )
#106401 08/15/05 09:12 PM
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New York City here, as least formative-years-wise. (Upper Bronx, at that.) Definitely KYE-bosh.


wwh #167178 03/25/07 03:43 AM
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I'm new at this, but I remember seeing an explanation of the origin of 'kibosh' a long time ago, I don't remember where, but it seemed at the time to be a fairly respectable source. Their explanation was that, way back when, in a law court, if the judge was about to pronounce a sentence of death, he ceremonially laid a square of black linen over his wig before he spoke. This was in the British Isles, could have been Ireland, Scotland, Wales, or England itself. That square of black linen was called the 'kibosh' or death cap.
Regards, Pearliemay

pearliemay #167181 03/25/07 10:16 AM
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Hi there!

On former page the links give already the informtion you asked for. Al anwers give no full clearity.

kibosh
1836, kye-bosk, in slang phrase put the kibosh on, of unknown origin, despite intense speculation. Looks Yiddish, but origin in early 19c. English slang seems to argue against this. One candidate is Ir. caip bháis, caipín báis "cap of death," sometimes said to be the black cap a judge would don when pronouncing a death sentence, but in other sources identified as a gruesome method of execution "employed by Brit. forces against 1798 insurgents" [Bernard Share, "Slanguage, A Dictionary of Irish Slang"]. Or it may somehow be connected with Turkish bosh (see bosh).

(from Online Ethymology Dictionary.)Don't ask me what Meta -words mean.

BranShea #182638 02/15/09 05:00 PM
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here's a thread that looks dead. Re-enliven it, let's.
We say kye-bosh and the other day there was an old
British movie on a classical station in which the judge
put a black cloth over his wig. I wondered what that meant,
and now I have a fairly good idea,by reading this site.
It is amazing how much one can learn, we from each other.
Thanks for having me!


----please, draw me a sheep----
BranShea #183747 03/20/09 09:42 PM
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Originally Posted By: BranShea
Hi there!

On former page the links give already the informtion you asked for. Al anwers give no full clearity.

kibosh
1836, kye-bosk, in slang phrase put the kibosh on, of unknown origin, despite intense speculation. Looks Yiddish, but origin in early 19c. English slang seems to argue against this. One candidate is Ir. caip bháis, caipín báis "cap of death," sometimes said to be the black cap a judge would don when pronouncing a death sentence, but in other sources identified as a gruesome method of execution "employed by Brit. forces against 1798 insurgents" [Bernard Share, "Slanguage, A Dictionary of Irish Slang"]. Or it may somehow be connected with Turkish bosh (see bosh).

(from Online Ethymology Dictionary.)
Quote:
Don't ask me what Meta -words mean.


I'm not sure what a 'meta word' is either, but ZUBENELGENUBI, might be one.
Accents on the ben and nu syllables: it is a star in the constellation Libra.

Last edited by LukeJavan8; 03/20/09 09:43 PM.

----please, draw me a sheep----
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There is only one online dictionary entry, Google gives a lot.
Main Entry: meta-word
Part of Speech: n
Definition: a word describing another word; by extension, a word in a computer program that means something other than its literal meaning, esp. that is part of the programming language
Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7)
Copyright © 2003-2009 Dictionary.com, LLC
Cite This Source

Zubenelgenubi Nice star

BranShea #183765 03/21/09 01:32 PM
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> ZUBENELGENUBI

Obi-Wan Kenobi's cousin?


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You'll never be the true astronomer neither. Sigh.
But you can sing.

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ZUBENELGENUBI

Interesting word. It's from Arabic, as are many astronomical terms. There are two other stars in Libra that begin with zuben (< Arabic al-zuban 'the claw').
  • alpha Librae, Zubenelgenubi 'southern claw' (< al-zuban al-janubiyy)
  • beta Librae, Zubeneschamali 'northern claw' (< al-zuban al-shamaliyyah)
  • gamma Librae, Zubenelakrab 'scorpion's claw' (< al-zuban al-aqrab)


[Addendum: Arabic janub 'south' < janaba 'to turn aside' is cognate with Hebrew ganebh 'to steal' and Yiddish ganef 'thief' (link)]

Last edited by zmjezhd; 03/21/09 02:22 PM.

Ceci n'est pas un seing.
zmjezhd #183782 03/21/09 05:58 PM
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If you click 'stars' in that site you can see that half of Arabia is in the sky. Wonderful site . stars

BranShea #183783 03/21/09 05:58 PM
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Originally Posted By: BranShea
You'll never be the true astronomer neither. Sigh.
But you can sing.


what? Star Wars ain't true astronomy?


but thanks! :¬ )


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BranShea #183815 03/22/09 05:41 PM
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Originally Posted By: BranShea
If you click 'stars' in that site you can see that half of Arabia is in the sky. Wonderful site . stars


Thanks for the site Bran, I love it.


----please, draw me a sheep----
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