that's all she wrote

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English

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Etymology

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Unknown; circa 1940s; thought to be a reference to Dear John letters. Ernest Tubb recorded a song titled "That's All She Wrote" (sheet music published in 1942), but earlier printed references exist (e.g. The Brownsville Herald, June 1935).

Pronunciation

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Phrase

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that's all she wrote

  1. (idiomatic, originally US) Indicating an abrupt termination of a project, or of one’s hopes or plans.
    • 1951, Jackie Brenston, “My Real Gone Rocket”:
      If you see a long yellow streak of all fine smoke / That’s my rocket pulling out, that’s all she wrote / []
    • 1951, Hank Williams, “Dear John”:
      There was a note upon my door... I won’t be back no more / That’s all she wrote, "Dear John".
    • 1963, Johnny Cash, “Jackson”:
      [] Goodbye — that’s all she wrote.
    • 1980, Bruce Springsteen, “The River”:
      Then I got Mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote / And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
    • 1987, Deep Purple, “Black And White”:
      Inside information taken down note by note / A silent footstep that's all she wrote
    • 1990, Firehouse, “All She Wrote”:
      Bye bye, baby, bye-bye, she said in a letter / And that was all she wrote
    • 2004, Gaither Vocal Band, “I Catch 'Em, God Cleans 'Em”:
      He said a prayer, and that was all she wrote
    • 2004, Michael Graves, A+ Guide to PC Hardware Maintenance & Repair, page 525:
      I get five short beeps when the machine starts to boot, and then that's all she wrote []
    • 2016 February 5, Wesley Schultz and Jeremy Fraites, “Ophelia”, in Cleopatra[1], performed by The Lumineers:
      I, I, got a little paycheck / You got big plans and you gotta move / And I don't feel nothing at all / And you can't feel nothing small / "Honey, I love you", that's all she wrote