English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Fixed expression from shebang,[1][2][3] first attested in the United States from the early 1860s, from which time it has increasingly dominated uses of "shebang" itself.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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whole shebang (plural whole shebangs)

  1. (idiomatic, with "the") Everything; the entire thing.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:everything
    The festival had balloons, flowers, fireworks, performers, and the whole shebang.
    • 1863, James Bryan, A Short Account of the "Mary Ann" Hospital, Grand Gulf, Miss.[1]:
      On the third the whole "chebang" was removed [...]
    • 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

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References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 whole shebang, the”, Wordorigins.org, Dave Wilton, Tuesday, February 20, 2007.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  3. ^ Take our Word