Kitboodle

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The entire collection of items, equipment, or people involved in a particular activity or situation
2. All the things that go together as a complete set or outfit for a specific purpose or affair
3. The whole lot or complete assemblage of something, including all its component parts or associated elements

Etymology: "Kitboodle" is a variant of the phrase "kit and boodle," which means the whole collection of things, everything of a group or person. The second half, "boodle," comes from the Dutch "boedel," meaning property or an estate, and it reached English through American speech. "Boodle" first meant a person's goods or possessions, and later took on the sense of a bribe, as in graft money. The first half, "kit," refers to a person's personal set of belongings or equipment, as in a soldier's kit or a traveler's kit. Put together, the two words pile up everything a person owns or carries, so the phrase became an informal way of saying "the whole lot." The variant "kitboodle" appears as a blended spelling of the same idiom, and the better-known "kit and caboodle" follows the same pattern.

Synonyms: kit and boodle, everything