the works

the works

1. The entirety of what's available; all the related elements of something. Wow, they really offer the works at this ice cream bar. There's much more than just whipped cream and sprinkles here! I want a traditional wedding, with the cake, the dress—the works.
2. slang A very thorough or severe beating. When John refused to pay protection money to the mafia, two of their goons took him outside and gave him the works.
See also: work
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

work

 (one's way) into something
1. . to get into something tight or small gradually and with effort. He worked himself into the dark corner and hid there for a while. The mouse worked into the crack and got stuck.
2. . to get more deeply involved in something gradually. I don't quite understand my job. I'll work my way into it gradually. Fred worked into the daily routine gradually.

work

 (one's way) through something
1. . Lit. to work to earn money to pay the bills while one is in college, medical school, law school, etc. I worked my way through college as a waiter.
2. . Fig. to progress through something complicated. I spent hours working my way through the tax forms. I worked through the forms very slowly.
3. . Fig. to struggle through an emotional trauma. When she had finally worked through her grief, she was able to function normally again. Larry worked through the pain.

*works

a lot of something; everything possible. (The works can be a lot of food, good treatment, bad treatment, etc. *Typically: get ~; have ~; give someone ~.) Bill: Shall we order a snack or a big meal? Jane: I'm hungry. Let's get the works. But, your honor. I shouldn't get the works. I only drove too fast!
See also: work
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

the works

1. Everything, the full range of possibilities, as in He ordered a pizza with the works, or All right, tell me, give me the works on it. This usage derives from works in the sense of "a complete set of parts for a machine or mechanism." [Colloquial; late 1800s]
2. A beating or other severe treatment. This usage is often put as give someone the works, as in They took him outside and gave him the works. [Slang; first half of 1900s]
See also: work
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

the works

or

the whole works

You say the works or the whole works to mean all the things that would normally be included in a particular situation. Our agents are watching all exits from New York City — airports, train stations, bus stations, tunnels, bridges, the works. Amazing place he's got there — squash courts, swimming pool, jacuzzi, the whole works.
See also: work
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

the (whole) ˈworks

(informal) everything that you could want, need or expect: We went to the chip shop and had the works: fish, chips and mushy peas.
See also: work
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

the works

n. the entire amount; everything. I’d like my hamburger with onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard—the works. She’s getting the works at the beauty shop—cut, wash, dye, and set.
See also: work
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • the whole nine yards
  • whole nine yards
  • whole nine yards, the
  • go the whole nine yards
  • the whole jimbang
  • the whole jingbang
  • the whole shooting match
  • whole megillah
  • the whole megillah
  • Megillah
References in classic literature
Our information respecting Hesiod is derived in the main from notices and allusions in the works attributed to him, and to these must be added traditions concerning his death and burial gathered from later writers.
"The Works and Days": The poem consists of four main sections.
Collection Of Hesiod Homer and Homerica
Everything was placed under a complete system of discipline, and the works were commenced in most perfect order.
Nevertheless, the works advanced regularly, as the steam-cranes actively removed the rubbish.
From The Earth To The Moon
Those who can read German will find an excellent guide, in this respect, in Frau Foerster-Nietzsche's exhaustive and highly interesting biography of her brother: "Das Leben Friedrich Nietzsche's" (published by Naumann); while the works of Deussen, Raoul Richter, and Baroness Isabelle von Unger- Sternberg, will be found to throw useful and necessary light upon many questions which it would be difficult for a sister to touch upon.
Thus Spake Zarathustra
It is only to be regretted [49] that in the later collected edition of the works those two magical old volumes are broken up and scattered under other headings.
The Guardian
In the evening he cut out the work, and went to bed early, that he might get up and begin betimes next day; but he was saved all the trouble, for when he got up in the morning the work was done ready to his hand.
As soon as it was midnight, there came in two little naked dwarfs; and they sat themselves upon the shoemaker's bench, took up all the work that was cut out, and began to ply with their little fingers, stitching and rapping and tapping away at such a rate, that the shoemaker was all wonder, and could not take his eyes off them.
Fairy Tales
Washington Whose patience, fidelity, and hard work have gone far to make the work at Tuskegee successful.
Washington's success is, then, not his teaching the pupils of Tuskegee, nor even gaining the support of philanthropic persons at a distance, but this--that every Southern white man of character and of wisdom has been won to a cordial recognition of the value of the work, even men who held and still hold to the conviction that a mere book education for the Southern blacks under present conditions is a positive evil.
Up From Slavery
* The Second Revolt was largely the work of Ernest Everhard, though he cooperated, of course, with the European leaders.
Your hands are soft with the work others have performed for you.
The Iron Heel
You will bring home the work as it is finished, and your money will be always ready.
Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief
The longer Levin mowed, the oftener he felt the moments of unconsciousness in which it seemed not his hands that swung the scythe, but the scythe mowing of itself, a body full of life and consciousness of its own, and as though by magic, without thinking of it, the work turned out regular and well-finished of itself.
Anna Karenina
In parts, only little bits, in other parts, large portions of a rhombic plate had been left between the opposed basins, but the work, from the unnatural state of things, had not been neatly performed.
The Origin of Species