Megillah

Related to Megillah: Megillat Esther

the whole megillah

Everything; the entirety of something. There's nothing more to tell you. That's the whole megillah. While I'm in Europe, I want to go to Paris, London—the whole megillah.
See also: Megillah, whole
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

whole megillah

Also, whole schmeer. Everything, every aspect or element, as in The accountant went through the whole megillah all over again, or Her divorce lawyer took him for the house, the car, the whole schmeer. The first term alludes to the Megillah, five books of the Bible read on certain Jewish feast days and considered by some to be very long and tedious. Schmeer is Yiddish for "smear" or "smudge." [Slang; second half of 1900s]
See also: Megillah, whole
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

the whole megillah

something in its entirety, especially a complicated set of arrangements or a long-winded story. North American informal
Megillah is the Hebrew word for a ‘scroll’ and refers particularly to each of five books of the Jewish Scriptures (the Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther) appointed to be read in the synagogue on certain important days.
See also: Megillah, whole
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

megillah

(məˈgɪlə)
n. a long and complicated story. (From Hebrew megillah via Yiddish.) Here you come in here with this megillah about a flat tire and how your brother-in-law stole your jack and how your arthritis is kicking up—what do you think I am, some sort of shoulder to cry on?
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • the whole megillah
  • whole megillah
  • the whole jimbang
  • the whole jingbang
  • the whole lot
  • the whole ball of wax
  • whole ball of wax
  • whole ball of wax, the
  • the whole shooting match
  • the whole shebang
References in periodicals archive
Breiger also asked for the addresses of any of Yehoash's living relatives; he may not have seen the original YFG circular from the Megillah campaign, which mentioned Evlin as Yehoash's daughter.
THE PUBLICATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE YEHOASH BIBLE, 1922-1942
In the reading of the megillah, we express our determination to overcome the enemies that arise against us in every generation."
Netanyahu: Unlike Megillah Days, Jews Can Defend Themselves Now
Citing numerous sources from mesechta Megillah in the Gemara as well as historical proof, we get a rare glimpse into the inner machinations of the mind of Achashverosh, the faith-based motivations of Queen Esther and Mordechai and the hatching of Haman's diabolical scheme of annihilation of the Jewish people.
Fern's Bookshelf
The other Purim tradition is during the reading of the book of Esther - also known as the Megillah - to boo at each mention of royal adviser Haman, who wanted to destroy the Jewish people.
ABBA helps Jews celebrate ancient festival in Sydney
(15.) The new day of the month appear as a festive day already in the Bible (Numbers 10:10) and was considered to be especially important for women, who were exempt from work on that day (Talmud Bavli, tractate Megillah 22b).
Feminist influences on Jewish liturgy: the case of Israeli Reform prayer (1)
"Treatment," I almost corrected his use of "scenario," but I was in no mood to be subjected once again to the tortuous unfolding of his gall bladder megillah. It was the reason I had not tendered my application to be re-admitted into membership in the Writers Union.
Lost in translation
The story (megillah) is read in the synagogue and it's considered a mitzvah to hear the story.
Celebrating Jewish culture
One of the most well-known models for this hero is found in the biblical Book of Esther, the Megillah. In this work the evil Haman, viceroy to King Ahasuerus (identified by some scholars as the Persian king Xerxes I), plots the destruction of the kingdom's Jews.
The making of a Jewish folk hero: the Maharal in The Golem of Prague
On another channel a middle-aged actress declared that after years of substance abuse--"yeah, cocaine, the whole megillah"--and loveless promiscuity, she had become a sexually mature woman, in charge of her body and her lithe.
Grace. (Story)
(138) The Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 13(a), notes the redundancy inherent in the phrases of the Book of Esther "for she did not have a father or a mother" and "upon the death of her father and mother." This indicates that the second phrase is designed to emphasize that Esther did not have a father or mother for even a single day.
Gestation: work for hire or the essence of motherhood? A comparative legal analysis
The megillah of dot-coms, which opened in 1995, has yet to make a profit.
Smoke and mirrors
"I'm not talking about the nomination, I'm talking about the whole megillah."
Trump lays his cards on the table as a candidate
Coming a few years before the publication of the Pentagon Papers and other secret government documents, the Report evidently caused a minor megillah among reviewers who were not entirely sure if it was a hoax and government officials who were inclined to take it seriously.
Report from Iron Mountain: On the Possibility and Desirability of Peace
But his discussion thankfully does not recite the ganze megillah of subversion and containment.
Resistant Structures: Particularity, Radicalism, and Renaissance Texts
200 C.E., apparently supposes that villagers would have to travel to the nearest market town to hear the reading of the Scroll of Esther on the festival of Purim: Megillah, i.1, with the comments of Rashi ad loc.
Language, power and identity in ancient Palestine