English · Idiom Candidate

close the books

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To finalize or complete a project or activity

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

hoàn thành hoặc kết thúc một dự án hoặc hoạt động

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: to shut a book

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The company will close the books on the failed product line

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “close the books” mean?

To finalize or complete a project or activity Literally: to shut a book

Is “close the books” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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