shebang

A shebang is a thing or a group, used in the phrase “the whole shebang.” When your teacher says the test will cover the whole shebang, she means everything you’ve studied is fair game.

The informal phrase”the whole shebang” means “everything,” which you could also call “the whole ball of wax” or “the whole enchilada.” Shebang is an American word, first used by Civil War soldiers (and the poet Walt Whitman) to mean “rustic dwelling” or “hut.” In 1872, Mark Twain used shebang to mean “vehicle,” but that same year it appeared in a newspaper with its current meaning, in the first known use of “the whole shebang.”