Meaning
To leave a scene, job or situation, either pointedly and with a flourish or, in its quieter register, discreetly and without fuss. Almost always humorous or ironic, and often used in the past tense about departures from public life. Almost always jocular; the theatrical framing gently mocks the leaver, or the speaker's own retreat. Regional use: General English (theatrical origin; popularized by American television).
Origin
'Exit' plus a direction is standard printed stage-direction language going back centuries: 'stage left' is the actor's left when facing the audience. The phrase crossed into general use through Snagglepuss, the theatrical pink mountain lion of Hanna-Barbera (a prototype on The Quick Draw McGraw Show in 1959, his own segments on The Yogi Bear Show from 1961), voiced by Daws Butler in a delivery modelled on Bert Lahr; escaping trouble, he would announce his departure as a stage direction, 'Exit, stage left!' (also right, up or down). Rush's 1981 live album Exit... Stage Left gave the line a second life in rock culture. Wiktionary records the resulting figurative senses on both sides: an orderly, well-timed, deliberately uneventful departure, and a brisk imperative to leave the scene, while popular usage leans on the cartoon's hasty, self-dramatizing exits. Figurative uses independent of the cartoon were not confirmed, so the popularization is the documented story.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- exit stage right
- exits stage left
- make an exit stage left
Usage Examples
- When the scandal broke, the minister exited stage left with a short statement and no questions taken.
- I made my excuses and exited stage left before the argument could swing round to me.
- After twenty years hosting, he exited stage left last night, blowing a kiss to the studio audience.