English

Alternative forms

• whole chebang
• whole shebangs

Noun

whole shebang ‎(usually uncountable, plural whole shebangs)

1. (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.

   • 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

See also

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

References

1. 1 2 “whole shebang, the”, Wordorigins.org, Dave Wilton, Tuesday, February 20, 2007.
2. 1 2 James A. H. Murray [et al.], editor (1884–1928) A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, OCLC 15566697; and The Oxford English Dictionary; being a Corrected Re-issue with an Introduction, Supplement, and Bibliography of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (the First Supplement), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933, OCLC 2748467.
3. ↑ Take our Word