whole works

the whole works

All or seemingly all of what's available or possible. Typically used after a list of various examples. Wow, they really have a ton of different toppings at this ice cream bar. Sprinkles, crushed-up candy bars, gummy bears, the whole works! I want a really traditional wedding, with an elaborate ceremony, a huge cake, a flowy white dress—the whole works.
See also: whole, work
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

whole works

everything; the complete amount. I cashed my paycheck and lost the whole works playing the ponies.
See also: whole, work
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • the whole works
  • whole nine yards
  • whole nine yards, the
  • the whole nine yards
  • go the whole nine yards
  • (you) coulda fooled me
  • (you) could have fooled me
  • above and beyond the call of duty
  • bear a resemblance to
  • bear a resemblance to (someone or something)
References in classic literature
Later, when we can go alone, we take a man's whole work, and choose for ourselves what we will most love in it.
Very often a definite theme may be found about which the whole work centers, as for instance in 'Macbeth,' The Ruin of a Man through Yielding to Evil.
"She does not even understand that she is the sole incentive of my whole work. How wrong- headed, and yet how excellent a mind!--If I had not married I might now have been high in office and rich.
One of many entries into the premium soft-sided cooler segment, this new model from Polar Bear does what the company promises: Closed-cell foam insulation keeps beverages cold and a leakproof, puncture-resistant inner liner keeps the whole works contained.
Tata left the whole works in such a bad state and much more work is required than first thought.
The whole works brilliantly and on one long haul to an airport with four adults and loads of luggage, it returned 51 miles per gallon.
It is the first time the Commission has reviewed how the NHS system as a whole works together.
I'd like to just paint the whole works. What's the best way to get a good-looking result?
"There were lots of Celtic scarfs, flags and tops in the audience and Rod was giving it the whole works. I have never seen it so bad," he said.
It explores the philosophical issues that Allen's comedy explicitly addresses, whether just as the subjects of puns and jokes or as the guiding themes of whole works, such as the identity problem in Zelig, the relation between reality and art in The Purple Rose of Cairo, and the objective value of morality in Crimes and Misdemeanors.
So, instead of each day just dumping the five gallon bucket or so of press cakes onto the compost hill, I now excitedly mix the whole works into the moose's ration and into her trough.
The report said: "The board should improve the Trust's working relationship with key partners and stakeholders, particularly Northern Birmingham Primary Care Trust, in order to ensure that the local health economy as a whole works more effectively."
Despite this, the book as a whole works and certainly keeps the reader involved until the conclusion.
The speech is probably the best known quotation from the whole of Sounders Lewis's substantial literary output, and is considered by scholars and literary men and women to be amongst the purple passages from Lewis's whole works, probably recalling Shakespeare at his most sublime.