pull the plug
verb1
To unplug or cut power to a machine.
- Shut off the machine and pull the plug.
- He put an end to the loud music by pulling the plug.
2
Informal To turn off life support.
3
Informal To commit suicide.
- 1981, The Jim Carroll Band, People Who Died Cathy was eleven when she pulled the plug / On twenty-six reds and a bottle of wine
- "The Times said it was suicide," said Knight. "He burned himself out. There wasn't anything left." The Dean leveled his eyes at Reid, searching for more, wanting more, not wanting more, and Reid continued, "So he pulled the plug." "Pulled the plug? The paper said it was cyanide," his voice filled with curiosity.2007, Lee Stockdale, Murder of Law, page 118:
4
Informal To cease to support; to halt.
- It's a wonder the director didn't pull the plug on that project months ago.
- "We have a deal that stopped me pulling the plug on services. But only just. I was hours from having to stop the Underground and buses from running in this, the greatest city on Earth. How insane is that? How could that even be allowed to happen? "I waited until five to midnight on the day when I would have had to pull the plug for the next day, before I got the letter from the Government on an interim funding settlement.2020 July 15, Mike Brown talks to Paul Clifton, “Leading London's "hidden heroes"”, in Rail, pages 42–43:
5
Informal To cease production or publication.