ring down the curtain
Related to ring down the curtain: bring down the curtain
ring down the curtain (on something)
1. To bring a performance or act of a play to an end by lowering the theater curtain. The phrase refers to the practice of ringing a bell to signal the lowering of the curtain in the theater. The audience gave the performance a standing ovation as the theater rang down the curtain. The shocking twist at the end of the second act left the audience in stunned silence as the curtain was rung down.
2. To bring about or signal the end of something. The company announced that it will ring down the curtain after nearly 50 years of business. The government is ringing down the curtain on the controversial program next month.
See also: curtain, down, ring
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
ring down (or up) the curtain
mark the end (or the beginning) of an enterprise or event.The reference here is to the ringing of a bell in a theatre as the signal to raise or lower the stage curtain at the beginning or end of a performance. Compare with bring down the curtain on (at curtain).
See also: curtain, down, ring
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
bring/ring down the ˈcurtain (on something)
,bring/ring the ˈcurtain down (on something)
bring an end to something: The BBC has finally decided to bring the curtain down on one of its oldest television programmes.See also: bring, curtain, down, ring
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
ring down the curtain
To end a performance, event, or action.
See also: curtain, down, ring
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
ring down the curtain (on), to
To bring something to a conclusion. In the nineteenth-century theater a bell rung backstage was often used as a signal to lower the curtain, signifying the end of a scene or act. Thackeray recorded it thus (The End of the Play): “The play is done, the curtain drops, slow falling to the prompter’s bell.” It was transferred to other kinds of ending by the early twentieth century.
See also: curtain, down, ring
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- ring down the curtain (on something)
- ring down the curtain on
- ring the curtain down
- ring the curtain down (on something)
- bring down the curtain
- bring down the curtain (on something)
- bring down the curtain on
- bring the curtain down on something
- bring/ring down the curtain
- ring down the curtain (on), to