shoot the works
To use or expend all of one's effort, resources, or funds. After receiving a lukewarm reception to his first film, the director really shot the works when he made the sequel. I know you want to have a good time, but don't shoot the works—you still have to pay your bills for the rest of the month.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
shoot the works
1. to do everything; to use everything; to bet all one's money. Okay, let's go out to dinner and shoot the works. Don't shoot the works! Save some for a cab.
2. Sl. to empty one's stomach; to vomit. Suddenly she turned sort of green, and I knew she was going to shoot the works. After she shot the works, she looked fine—but I was sort of pale.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
shoot the works
Expend all one's efforts or capital, as in
He's broke after shooting the works on that new office building. [
Colloquial; first half of 1900s] Also see
the works.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
shoot the works
1. tv. to do everything; to use everything; to bet all one’s money. Don’t shoot the works! Save some for a cab.
2. tv. to empty one’s stomach; to vomit. Suddenly she turned sort of green, and I knew she was going to shoot the works.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
shoot the works
Informal To expend all of one's efforts or capital.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
shoot the works, to
To make an all-out effort. This twentieth-century Americanism uses
works in the sense of “everything.” “Within an hour he hoped to shoot the works,” wrote Lawrence Treat in his 1943 mystery,
O as in Omen. See also
shoot one's bolt.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer