ENGLISH
REFERENCE

call it stumps

idiom
Meaning

To decide to end an activity; to call it a day.


Origin

disputed origin

A figurative use of the cricket expression stumps (“the close of play when the stumps are pulled out of the ground by the umpires”).

Examples
SIMPLE

We have worked for ten hours, so let us call it stumps.

CONTEXTUAL

After trying to fix the broken engine all afternoon, the team decided to call it stumps.

COMPLEX

Recognizing that their efforts were yielding no further progress, the exhausted researchers finally called it stumps for the evening.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    answer the call of nature

    To satisfy a bodily urge to urinate or defecate.

  2. 02

    call a lid

    To inform the press that no further news will be released from a governmental body that day.

  3. 03

    call a spade a spade

    To put it bluntly, to be outspoken; to speak the truth, to describe things as they really are.

  4. 04

    call an audible

    To change plans at the last minute in response to new information.

  5. 05

    call it

    To call it a day

  6. 06

    call it a day

    To cease an activity.

  7. 07

    call it a night

    To go to bed to sleep.

  8. 08

    call it an early night

    To go to bed or cease one's activities earlier in the evening than usual.

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