English idiom: “call it a day”

This English idiom indicates the will to pause or stop the ongoing work or activity for that day. 

For example: “I ‘ve gotten my 10,000 steps, so let’s call it a day. “

Here, the speaker is saying that she has achieved her health goal of reaching 10,000 steps for that day, and is probably tired and ready to stop walking. She wants to “call it a day” and finish her physical activity!

This idiom can also be used with the word night, in which it indicates the desire to stop doing something for the rest of the night, and go to bed.

For example: “We’re out of firewood, so we can’t keep the campfire going. Let’s call it a night.”

In this example, the speaker has been burning wood at a campfire during the evening, but he’s out of wood and therefore can’t maintain the campfire. So he’s ready to “call it a night” and finish with the campfire, and probably go to bed!

This idiom can also mean that someone quits something forever, although this use is generally less common!

For example: “She was smoking for 20 years, then she decided to call it a day.”

In this example, the woman being referred to has permanently stopped her smoking habit after she decided to “call it a day".”

Now that you’ve learned a bit about this popular idiom, why not try to use it in your next English conversation?