whole shebang

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

1924, from shebang.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

whole shebang (plural whole shebangs)

(idiomatic, with "the") Everything; the entire thing.
The festival had balloons, flowers, fireworks, performers, and the whole shebang.
- 1924, Harold Hart Crane, letter:[1][2]
  I am growing more and more sick of factions, gossip, jealousies, recriminations, excoriations and the whole literary shee-bang.
- 2002, Treasure Planet, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker
  Doctor, I'd love to chat. Tea, cake, the whole shebang. But I've got a ship to launch and you've got your outfit to buff up.
- 2004, Leo Furey, The Long Run, page 331,
  “Food here's pretty good. They don't serve bog juice. Real tea and real coffee. Ice cream, pop, chips. The whole shebang. Every day's a wingding, brother.”
- 2011, Dave Thompson, 1000 Songs that Rock Your World, page 209,
  Of course, they would win the whole shebang in 1974, when “Waterloo” [won] (sung in English by Swedes about a Frenchman in Belgium— how much more international can one song get?), but the bitter taste of past failures is not something one forgets...
- 2011, Diane Phillips, Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever with More Than 400 Easy-to-Make Recipes, page 305,
  The whole shebang cooks in the slow cooker, which will keep it warm until you are ready to serve it.

Translations

the entire thing

Catalan: tot plegat
Dutch: de hele rataplan, de hele mikmak, de hele reutemeteut
Finnish: koko helahoito, koko repertoaari, koko roska, koko hoito, ihan kaikki

French: tout le bataclan
Hungarian: hóbelevanc (hu), miskulancia, minden, ami kell, ami csak kell
Swedish: allt (sv), rubbet (sv)

See also

for a list of other "whole ___" terms that mean "everything / the whole thing", see the whole nine yards

References

“whole shebang, the”, Wordorigins.org, Dave Wilton, Tuesday, February 20, 2007.
Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
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