Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a bad accident, a defeat; usu. as put the kibosh on

1834		implied in put the kibosh on
1840		Flash Mirror 16: A cove turn’d nose and blow’d you, so the beaks are areter you [...] There’s the kibosh on you, my double smut.
1886		‘’Arry on ’Ome Rule’ in Punch 17 July in P. Marks (2006) 122: Aha! Caine has give ’em the kibosh.
1893		Arizona Wkly Citizen 20 May 1/3: ‘Our Mark’ hasd been given the ’grand kibosh’ every time he approached the administration for an appointment.
1897		J. London ‘The Road’ in Hendricks & Shepherd Jack London Reports (1970) 311–21: Their argot is peculiar study. [...] Kibosh means utter discomfiture, from the Chinook.
1904		‘O. Henry’ Cabbages and Kings 114: It’s one of my little chores as private secretary to smell out these revolutions and affix the kibosh before they break out.
1922		W. McG. Eager Contemp. Rev. n.p.: In ve morning, ’e said to ve boss, ‘Look ’ere, guvnor, this poor bloke ain’ ’alf ’ad a kybosh, you look arter ’im an’ I’ll see you Sa’urday night.’.
1930		(con. 1914–18) Brophy & Partridge Songs and Sl. of the British Soldier.
1936		Mencken Amer. Lang. (4th edn) 573: The British were fond of a number of Americanisms, e.g., cold-feet, kibosh, nix, pal and to chew the rag, but whether they were borrowed from the A.E.F. or acquired by some less direct route I do not know.
1952		J. Cleary Sundowners 122: Well, that puts the kybosh on it.
1971		F.J. Hardy Outcasts of Foolgarah (1975) 107: James Bond had put the kibosh on that.

2. rubbish, nonsense, humbug; thus kiboshery.

1838		R. Nicholson Cockney Adventures 10 Feb. 115: You know you owe Bet Muggins half a bull, Sall Scramble a bob, and Freckle-faced Hannah kibosh and a drop of slary.
1857		‘Leary Man’ in ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue (1857) 41: But let this be your plan: / Put up with no kiboshery / But look well after poshery.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1873		Sl. Dict.
1881		‘’Arry on Fashion’ in Punch 10 Sept. 110/1: The D.T. [...] reels off the awfullest kibosh, two columns or more every day.
1890		‘’Arry on the Sincerest Form of Flattery’ in Punch 20 Sept. 144/2: But if ’tisn’t alive, ’tain’t chin-music, but kibosh, and corpsey at that.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 19 June 3/6: [headline] Kent Town Kibosh.
1916		T. Burke Limehouse Nights 144: Now mind yeh ... No hanky-panky [...] I ain’t standing any kybosh.

3. eighteen pence i.e. 1/6d predecimalization.

1857		H. Mayhew ‘The Jew Clothes-Man’ A Few Odd Characters Out of the London Streets: As Represented in Henry Mayhew’s Curious Conversazione 14: Vell, I can’t do nothink here. I can’t ket a carl no how; I’m a crushed man, as crushed as a pig in Tooksh Plashe. [...] Vy I a’n’t made a shebter to-day, and I goy only a ‘chybosh,’ and that’s eighteen-penshe, yesterday.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1925		(ref. to 1850s) Western Mail (Perth) 28 May 21/1: [from Daily Mail, London] Kibosh used to be the slang word for one-and-six.
1950		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 4 Sept. 5: The costers have their own money-slang [...] 1s 6d a ‘kibosh’.
1959		F. Norman in Encounter n.d. in Norman’s London (1969) 61: one and six – Ky-bosh.
1976		(ref. to 1930s) R. Barnes Coronation Cups and Jam Jars 207: Kybosh – 1/6 (0ne shilling and six pence).

4. the height of fashion.

a.1889		Century Dict.
1902		Ade Breaking Into Society (1904) 34: He was proud to be the Husband of the Lady Ki-Bosh of the Local Knickerbockers.

5. an 18-month prison sentence.

1959

J. Gosling Ghost Squad 26: Thieves’ argot, spoken properly, is a foreign language which needs to be learned [...] Each prison sentence has its own word [...] ‘kybosh’ for 18 months.