whole shebang
Everything; the entire thing.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I want the whole shebang for my birthday party.”
“We bought the house, the furniture, and the garden tools—the whole shebang.”
“After the merger, the new owners insisted on auditing the entire company, including the accounts, the staff, and the whole shebang.”
The term emerged in the United States in the early 1860s as a fixed expression derived from shebang. Since its first appearance, this expanded form has increasingly dominated use, eventually displacing the shorter noun in common parlance.
- 01
go the whole hog
To do something as completely or entirely as possible; to hold back or reserve nothing.
- 02
have the whole bakery
To have large, callipygian buttocks; to be caked up.
- 03
smoke the whole pack
To be made to go all in on something one only wanted a lesser amount of.
- 04
the whole world and his dog
Everybody; too many people; a huge crowd.
- 05
whole ball of wax
The entire or overall plan, concept or action.
- 06
whole box of tricks
Everything and anything associated with a certain enterprise.
- 07
whole cloth
in full extent, wholesale, entirely, without changes or additions
- 08
whole enchilada
All of something or a group of related things taken in totality.
Last updated August 10, 2026