the whole enchilada
the entire thing
TRANSLATION
the whole enchilada = das ganze Zeug, mit allem Drum und Dran
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
The company financed and developed the systems, combining conventional financing, construction and permanent debt with equity, along with the federal energy tax credits program to fund THE WHOLE ENCHILADA without any additional capital.
(www.pv-tech.org)
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It isn't THE WHOLE ENCHILADA this country once envisioned, but the Mexican government welcomed President Bush's proposal to permit millions of undocumented immigrants to apply for work permits.
(San Antonio Express)
Did you
know?
the whole enchilada
idiom
- the whole of something, including everything that is connected with it
(Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms © Cambridge University Press 1998)
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WORD ORIGIN
The expression "the whole enchilada" is similar to other phrases that begin with "the whole," such as the whole shebang, the whole ball of wax and the whole nine yards. They all represent an idiomatic way of saying "everything."
We can be sure the choice of enchilada was purely random and that it simply popped into someone's head one day. It could have been "the whole taco" or "the whole burrito." Perhaps the person who came up with the expression was thinking about Mexican food at the time he or she created it.
An enchilada is a soft corn tortilla filled with either meat or cheese, rolled and covered with a chile sauce and then baked in the oven. Enchilada comes from the verb enchilar ("to add chile pepper to"). Enchilada literally means "dipped in chile". The traditional enchilada sauce is just that—dried red chile peppers soaked and ground into a sauce with other seasonings. The term enchilada is first referenced in the US in 1885. Yet the concept of tortillas being used as a wrap can be clearly linked to the Aztecs.
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Practice OWAD in a conversation today, say something like:
"We offered to sell off one division of the company, but they told us they wanted THE WHOLE ENCHILADA."
