magilla

English

Alternative forms

megillah

Etymology

From Yiddish מגילה (megile, “lengthy document, long story”), from Hebrew מגילה / מְגִלָּה (məḡillāh, “scroll”). Doublet of megillah.

Noun

magilla (plural magillas)

Something large and/or elaborate (especially in the phrase "the whole magilla")
- 2001, Fern Michaels, Charming Lily:
  No, I didn't wear them. I got dressed up. Pantyhose, makeup, the whole magilla.
- 2002, Howard Riell, The Merciful Rebuke Satan, page 204:
  Before a Kohen duchans he's gotta have his hands washed by one of the Levites, it's a whole magilla, what do I know?
- 2009, Margo Howard, Ann Landers in Her Own Words: Personal Letters to Her Daughter:
  I love your letters. They always bring me joy. Even the short ones. The magillas make me euphoric.
- 2011 September 30, Joe Neumaier, “'Dream House' review: Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz thriller is just an embarrassing nightmare”, in New York Daily News:
  "Dream House" is the full magilla, with imaginary images, sanity questions, peek-a-boo startles and the usual are-they-real-or-not? characters.
- 2014, Jim Menick, Lingo:
  I'm good at it, I get paid fairly well for it, and some day I'm going to be one of the people in charge of the whole magilla.
A big fuss or messy situation.
- 20th century, New York Supreme Court Case on Appeal, page 1051:
  Now after this magilla, please be ashamed of yourself and sit down & write a nice long letter
- 1985, Jane Auer Bowles, Millicent Dillon, Out in the World: Selected Letters of Jane Bowles, 1935-1970:
  Because I got into one of my magillas over what in hell to write you, Paul who thought I was crazy said that maybe he would apply for it instead but Gordon thought he was too successful.
- 1997, Don DeLillo, Underworld:
  You can’t name it. It’s too big or evil or outside your experience. It’s also shit because it’s garbage, it’s waste material. But I’m making a whole big megillah out of this. What I really want to get at is the ordinary thing, the ordinary life behind the thing.
- 2010, K. A. Minton, By Their Fruits, page 115:
  He didn't deserve this end and I am to blame for the whole magilla.
- 2016 September 21, Lauren O'Callaghan, “8 times Bill Murray proved he's the best human being in the world”, in Games Radar:
  The actor told Esquire about his epic Christmas parties: "It's a big magilla to get an ice luge, but if you do, you can pour vodka into it and it chills it on the way down.
An epitome; acme; exemplar.
- 2012 April 27, Linda Sickler, “Obama names Juliette Gordon Low recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom”, in Savannah Morning News:
  “It's not just one more thing, this is the big magilla,” Keena said.
- 2018 November 13, Bliss Bowen, “This weekend’s Southern California Poetry Festival caps Beyond Baroque’s 50th anniversary celebration and exalts poetry in its many forms”, in The Argonaut:
  Beyond Baroque, she says, “was the big magilla” to which they all aspired.
- 2019 October 27, Thomas Chambers, “TrackNotes: Casino Crazy & Whitney Day”, in The Beachwood Reporter:
  But this Hawthorne thing is the big magilla. It will include everything a Las Vegas casino has, all that and table games.
Someone big and brutish; gorilla.
- 2003, Bob Truluck, Saw Red: A Mystery, page 107:
  Big, stupid magillas with guns.
- 2011 May 25, Michael Conniff, “Con Games: Rush Limbaugh, Elitist”, in Huffington Post:
  Those of us in the talk radio dodge can't help but make note of Rush Limbaugh, the thousand-pound magilla in our particular jungle.

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