What it means
A party-pooper is the person who kills the mood when everyone else is just getting warmed up. They want the music lower, the night shorter, and they've always got a reason why the fun needs to calm down. You say it with an eye-roll when someone's being a total buzzkiller.
Usage examples
"Don't be such a party-pooper, it's not even midnight and you want to leave already."
"He's the resident party-pooper, always the first to say keep the noise down."
"Don't invite Dan next time, he's such a party-pooper every time the night gets good."
"She took one look at the karaoke queue and went full party-pooper about the noise."
Where it comes from
Party-pooper showed up in American English in the first half of the 20th century and was well established by the 1940s. It follows the older sense of poop meaning to tire out or spoil the fun, so the word paints someone who leaves the whole vibe sagging and deflated.
Other ways to say it
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