phrase🎓 English idiom
the whole kit and caboodle
everything, the entire lot
What it means
Everything, the entire collection or group, with nothing left out. It is an informal, emphatic way of referring to all of something at once.
Words like “the whole kit and caboodle” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.
Examples
- They sold the house, the furniture, the car, the whole kit and caboodle.
- When she moves, she takes the whole kit and caboodle with her.
- The toolkit comes with drills, bits and cases, the whole kit and caboodle.
- He inherited the farm, the animals, the whole kit and caboodle.
Where it comes from
The phrase combines 'kit', meaning a set of equipment, with 'caboodle', a 19th-century American term for a collection or crowd, possibly from 'boodle'.
Related idioms
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