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The whole nine yards" or "the full nine yards" is a colloquial American English phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way." [1] Its first usage was the punch line of an 1855 Indiana comedic short story titled "The Judge's Big Shirt."
The ‘yards’ doesn’t refer to anything in particular – the whole nine yards is no more open to explanation than the cat’s pyjamas or the real McCoy. Nevertheless, many people have invented a meaning. Here’s a list of the many and various suggested origins of ‘the whole nine yards’ sent in by readers of this website.
Jul 8, 2021 · But perhaps one of the most popular urban legends is that the expression cropped up during World War II. The standard U.S. aircraft machine gun ammo belt was 27 feet long or — you guessed it — nine yards. When a gunner exhausted his ammunition, it was said that he had shot off the whole nine yards at the enemy.
Dec 26, 2012 · Dec. 26, 2012. When people talk about “the whole nine yards,” just what are they talking about? For decades the answer to that question has been the Bigfoot of word origins, chased around wild...
Dec 5, 2013 · One of the most popular tales is that “9 yards” was the length of machine gun magazines during World War II, and soldiers were encouraged to use “the whole nine yards” against enemy soldiers. While many different phrases did come out of war, we couldn’t find any war literature that mentions this phrase (nor could other reputable ...
Mar 17, 2022 · Yard was an old nautical term for a wooden rod connected to a sailing ship’s masts to support its sails. Square-rigged, three-masted ships had three yards each, said Cassidy, “so the ‘whole ...
Sep 2, 2022 · The Whole Nine Yards, also encountered as The Whole 9 Yards is a popular American colloquial expression, used synonymously to the phrase “the whole thing”, describing people doing tasks and telling stories all in one go.
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