The whole nine yards

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Meaning

Everything available or required; the full extent, complete story, or maximum effort.

Origin

The expression is American and was in print much earlier than once believed. Researchers have found the full nine yards in an Indiana newspaper in 1907 and the whole nine yards in 1908, both with the modern sense; related whole six yards forms also circulated. Those dates rule out the familiar stories about ammunition belts in either world war, and no evidence establishes concrete mixers, kilts, bridal veils, shipyards, or any other nine-yard object as the source. The number appears to have varied, and the original joke or reference remains unknown.

Research Sources

  1. whole nine yards Wordorigins.org
  2. Minor Questionable Square-Bracketed Antedating of Whole Nine Yards American Dialect Society mailing list, Linguist List archive

Variants

  • The full nine yards
  • The whole six yards
  • All nine yards

Usage Examples

  • The wedding package included the venue, flowers, music, photographs - the whole nine yards.
  • Ask Priya for the whole nine yards, not just the short version of what happened.
  • They went the whole nine yards and rebuilt the engine rather than patching the leak.

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