call it quits

Idioms & Phrases

call it quits

Stop working, abandon something, give up, as in John is calling it quits for now or This ground is far too stony for a garden so I'm calling it quits. This idiom comes from cry quits, dating from the 1600s and meaning "declare even" or "get even." The verb call was substituted in the late 1800s. Also see call it a day.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature