Turn Off the Lights

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

Literally: to switch off electric lights when leaving; idiomatically: to be the last to leave a failing enterprise, institution, or era; to signal the definitive end of something

History and origin

From the practical instruction to conserve electricity when leaving a room; became a metaphor for shutting down an era or enterprise

Examples

• When the last employee walked out of the bankrupt factory, he was told, 'don't forget to turn off the lights.'
• Critics said the closure of the last coal mine was the moment someone finally had to turn off the lights on a century-old industry.