The game is up

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The game is up

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The game is up

Meaning

The original meaning was 'the game is over - all is lost'. More recently it has come to be used to mean ' we have seen through your tricks - your deceit is exposed'.

Origin

From Shakespeare's Cymbeline, 1623:

Euriphile, Thou wast their nurse; they took thee for their mother,
And every day do honour to her grave:
Myself, Belarius, that am Morgan call'd,
They take for natural father. The game is up.

See other phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.