Idiom idiom
goodnight Irene
Meaning
An involuntary departure.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The party ended, and it was goodnight Irene for the guests.”
“When the manager saw the budget report, he knew it was goodnight Irene for the new project.”
“Once the final whistle blew and the team realized they had lost the championship, it was goodnight Irene for their hopes of a trophy.”
Origin
From the blues/folk song Goodnight Irene first popularized by Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter.
Anchors to
Last updated August 10, 2026