ring down the curtain (on), to
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
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
- ring down the curtain (on something)
- ring down the curtain on
- ring the curtain down
- ring the curtain down (on something)
- death knell
- knell
- toll the death knell
- the curtain falls
- passing bell