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.

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

#the whole shebang#the whole nine yards#across the board#last but not least

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