Phrase equivalent to "Everything that is available." Has nothing to do with football. In fact, the phrase comes from the fact that fighter planes are equipped with belt-fed machine guns. When the belts are laid out before loading, they measure nine yards in length. If a pilot were to empty his plane's guns into a target, he'd be giving it the "whole nine yards."
by Angel Panties December 16, 2003
Get the Whole nine yards mug.'gave him the whole nine yards
by Archerr December 27, 2003
Get the Whole Nine Yards mug.Does not come from military or football. It relates to the clothing industry. It is a term that tailors have used since the 1900's for denoting the extent that one wishes to invest in a custom-made suit. It takes exactly nine square yards of material to create a man's three-piece suit. If an individual desires a suit that is tailored to the "hilt" (double lined, etc.), he would request that the tailor should proceed with "the whole nine yards." Anything shy of nine yards would mean various alterations. This would lessen the overall quality of the suit.
by Joel Johnson November 10, 2008
Get the whole nine yards mug.Used since the 18th century to describe a ship.
'Ship' is a pretty homogenous term these days, but back then, to describe a vessel as a 'true' ship, it had to have 3 masts (fore, main, and mizzen) and on each of these were 3 sails (main, top, and topgallant) suspended from horizontal 'yards'. To handle so many sails, a fairly large crew is required. Warships carried much, much larger crews than merchantmen, and so it was only warships and the large, prestigeous merchant ships such as East Indiamen that could be described as having 'the whole (or full) nine yards'.
'Ship' is a pretty homogenous term these days, but back then, to describe a vessel as a 'true' ship, it had to have 3 masts (fore, main, and mizzen) and on each of these were 3 sails (main, top, and topgallant) suspended from horizontal 'yards'. To handle so many sails, a fairly large crew is required. Warships carried much, much larger crews than merchantmen, and so it was only warships and the large, prestigeous merchant ships such as East Indiamen that could be described as having 'the whole (or full) nine yards'.
by Bluetyphoon August 6, 2004
Get the Whole nine yards mug.This is not about the airforce, football or even the clothing industry; The Whole Nine Yards refers to the amount of conrete that was in the original concrete trucks (9 cubic yards).
by Whatda May 26, 2010
Get the Whole nine yards mug.The actual origin of the phrase "the whole nine yards" originates from late 19th century explosive mining methods, where a "whole nine yards" of safety fuse would be used(The maximum length that could be reliably used without burning out before igniting the dynamite) in the case of a huge detonation, hence longer fuses give you more time to get the fuck out of there.
by DarkRPAdmin August 6, 2019
Get the Whole nine yards mug.Giving it all, taken from WW2 B-17 gunners who had a string of bullets that fed into their guns that measured nine yards long
Give them the whole nine yards.
by Barnes 199 May 26, 2006
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