call it a day
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms:
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call it a day
Stop a particular activity for the rest of the day, as in It's past five o'clock so let's call it a day. Similarly,
call it a night means "to stop something for the rest of the night," as in One more hand of bridge and then let's call it a night. The original phrase was call it half a day, first recorded in 1838, which referred to leaving one's place of employment before the work day was over. The first recorded use of
call it a day was in 1919, and of
call it a night in 1938. Also see
call it quits.
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Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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