the whole enchilada

the whole enchilada

slang Every part of a multifaceted thing or situation taken together as a whole; the whole thing. Building up an entertainment system from scratch sounds good, but buying the whole enchilada in one shot is much more convenient. If you sign up today, you can get the whole enchilada for just $2,000.
See also: enchilada, whole
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

whole enchilada

Inf. the whole thing; everything. (From Spanish.) Nobody, but nobody, ever gets the whole enchilada. Richard wants the whole enchilada.
See also: enchilada, whole
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

the whole enchilada

AMERICAN, INFORMAL
If you describe something as the whole enchilada, you mean that it is as complete or extreme as possible. We should bomb them, send in the Marines — the whole enchilada. Consumers who want this software can download the whole enchilada from their website. Note: The usual British expression is the whole caboodle.
See also: enchilada, whole
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

the whole enchilada

the whole situation; everything. North American informal
1992 New York Times High-tech gadgetry is best viewed as the spice, but not the whole enchilada.
An enchilada is an American Spanish word for a tortilla served with chilli sauce and a filling of meat or cheese.
See also: enchilada, whole
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

the whole enchiˈlada

(American English, informal) the whole situation; everything: We had a great time on vacation, and it only cost us $500 for the whole enchilada.
An enchilada is a Mexican dish with meat and a spicy sauce.
See also: enchilada, whole
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

the whole enchilada

(...ɛntʃəˈlɑdə)
n. the whole thing; everything. (From Spanish.) Pete wants the whole enchilada.
See also: enchilada, whole
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

whole enchilada

The entirety of something; everything.
See also: enchilada, whole
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See also:
  • whole enchilada
  • tell me about it
  • if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it is a duck
  • quack
  • have a thing
  • hair and hide
  • far be it from
  • far be it from me
  • far be it from me to
  • far be it from me to do something, but...
References in periodicals archive
Instead of settling for meat loaf Sunday, the Cubs went for and got the whole enchilada.
The principal architect of the bill made no secret of wanting the whole enchilada, a point latter day "commonsense gun safety law advocates" do their best to hide.
Tom Jones, his adaptation of the ribald Henry Fielding novel, received its world premiere in 2014 and has been called, "Clever, silly and highly theatrical!" His musical China - The Whole Enchilada was named Outstanding Musical of the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival and has been called "funny, smart, surprisingly deep, and very enjoyable." Mark's play The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge has been called "a sequel worthy of Dickens' approval," and "a worthy new entry into the holiday canon." His adaptation of The Little Prince set box office records at the Hippodrome Theatre and the Orlando Theatre Project.
At this year's MIPCOM, participants were prepared to deal with the whole enchilada: Consolidation, Peak TV, Disruption, the European Digital Single Market and the usual villain (Netflix).
"If you care about the Constitution and Bill of Rights, if you care about free speech and religious liberty and the Second Amendment, then this election - putting a Republican in the White House and keeping a Republican Senate - is the whole enchilada," Cruz said.
But they can win the whole enchilada in the Visayas and Luzon sections.
Contradicting the famous proverb: "cold hands, warm heart," the Lebanese enjoy both warm hands and warm hearts (commonly worn on sleeves) -- the whole enchilada and yet another reason so many of our ancestors emigrated to and integrated in Mexico.
Araceli Guzman, in the The Whole Enchilada booth, wrapped her arms around her shoulders explaining "basically, I just huddle with myself."
It seems to me that helping those who cannot work due to unexpected disability was the original intent of the creators of this insurance, the whole enchilada if you will, the reason behind all this stuff in the first place."
While solar geo-engineering can't do anything about the carbon dioxide already in our atmosphere that will be causing more warming for decades to come or longer, it can help reduce the planet's carbon load moving forward, and is thus generally viewed as part of the climate solution but not the whole enchilada. That is, no matter what it is still in our best interest to reduce our carbon footprint as much as possible regardless of the whiz bang technologies scientists are developing to help.
ySTANBUL (CyHAN)- As I shared in my previous piece, "Reasons why parking can be stressful" (July 16, 2013), car thieves nowadays don't make off with the whole enchilada to make a quick buck and those with greasy palms don't settle for less than what they want.
Boyd's favorite, inelegant phrase for defeating one of his many opponents in the Pentagon was "giving him the whole enchilada right up the poop chute" That is what history will shortly give this country if we continue to allow closed systems to lead us.
The whole enchilada? Amy's Cheese Enchilada may seem like a 240-calorie bargain (though its 6 grams of saturated fat and 440 milligrams of sodium aren't exactly low).
And for those that want the whole enchilada, the Gigabit Ethernet + TV option for $120/month, Google offers a plethora of channels to choose from with a two-year contract, a storage box for DVR, a network box to support Wi-Fi and Ethernet fiber optics, 1 TB of space in Google Drive, and Google also throws in its new $199 Nexus 7 tablet absolutely free, which is the new remote control for TVs running Google Fiber.