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game, set, match

phrase

Etymology

Each noun names a component of the next one, and the final point scored by the victor is one that not only wins the game but also (thereby) wins the set and also (thereby) wins the match. The concept is comparable to the notion that the winning point not only makes their day but also makes their week and makes their month.

Definitions

  1. Victory at the conclusion of a tennis match.

    • "Game, set and match to Byrd!" announced Westcott above the applause. "Byrd wins the School Championship!"

  2. An expression indicating finality, announcing that a series of events—usually involving…

    An expression indicating finality, announcing that a series of events—usually involving some form of rivalry—has reached a conclusion.

    • A few years after that, Mikhail Gorbachev effectively surrendered in a cold war that had lasted almost four decades, and in a few more years the Berlin Wall came down. Game, set, match.
    • The atom bomb: U.S. 1, U.S.S.R. 0. Then came Sputnik, and the score was tied at 1 apiece. Then Apollo and putting a man on the moon — game, set, match.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for game, set, match. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA