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Kit and Caboodle
Kit and Caboodle
Kit and Caboodle : Phrases
Meaning:
The whole thing
Example:
His new job has all the perks, corner office, fat salary, pretty secretary... the whole kit and caboodle.
Origin:
Kit and caboodle is a phrase that evolved over time. Most recently from the earlier phrase kit and boodle.
Boodle (or Buddle) is an old word, and probably evolved from the Dutch boedel meaning a crowd or bunch. The whole boodle was heard as long ago as the early 19th century.
Kit is also a time honored word with many meanings, one of which is a collection of tools or possessions that a person might carry with them. The whole kit was used by 1785.
Caboodle is essentially a nonsense word, and is perhaps a contraction or rhyme of kit and boodle.
Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage contains it: Of course it might happen that the hull (whole) kit and boodle might start and run, if any big fighting came first-off.
There you have it, the whole kit and caboodle.