yard

go the whole nine yards (American, informal)

to continue doing something dangerous or difficult until it is finished. The weather was terrible but I wanted to go the whole nine yards and get to the top of the mountain.

See also: nine, whole

the whole nine yards (American, informal)

the whole of something, including everything that is connected with it. When I eat Mexican food, I like to have fajitas, bean dip, guacamole - the whole nine yards.

See also: nine, whole

---

the whole nine yards

all of something, including everything connected with it. When you join the gym, they show you all the equipment, tell you how to use it, the whole nine yards. They rushed him to the emergency room with lights flashing, sirens wailing, a police escort, the whole nine yards.

Usage notes: often used in the phrase go the whole nine yards: So we moved to the suburbs and went the whole nine yards — we had two cars, a pool in the back yard, even cookouts in the backyard.Edited & trf from nine; 19.7 spoken corpus; very high percentage justifies label--SL, 8/02 / 9/02 -cb

See also: nine, whole