Also: Call it a night
Meaning of Idiom ‘Call it a Day’
To call it a day means to decide to stop working on something; to end the day’s work and go home; to end something.
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Usage
The expression call it a day can be used to suggest a temporary or a permanent end to something, such as a task or work in general. While it most commonly suggests a temporary halt, as at the end of a day, it can be used to mean, for example, a permanent retirement from work.
Whenever the expression is used, however, it suggests that work is not stopping because a predetermined time has been reached, but because one (or a group) feels that an obvious stopping point has been reached or enough has been accomplished for “one day.”
When the variant call it a night is used, it is just a likely to refer to ending a leisure activity as to work. For instance, at a party, you might say to your friend “I have to get up early tomorrow. I’m going to call it a night.
Examples Of Use
“We can’t finish until we get the new parts, so let’s call it a day.”
“I studied for seven hours straight before the test. I finally called it a day at 2 A.M.”
Origin
The expression alludes to reaching the end of a working day having done a full day’s work. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms, the idiom began in the mid-19th century as “call it half a day.”
More Idioms Starting with C
More Call Idioms
More Day Idioms
- Even a Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day
- Happy as the Day is Long
- Broad Daylight, in
- Back in the Day
- Red Letter Day
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