by dsex66 December 10, 2022
by Chartreuse October 11, 2003
by Anonymous October 20, 2003
by el jefe October 17, 2003
1. Everything, excluding nothing; everything with all the trimmings. A similar meaning as the phrase "lock, stock, and barrel".
2. (older meaning) A drinking establishment for the poor; a tavernous shanty.
Some suspect it to have originated as Irish siebin "small mug, cheap ale", which entered English as shebeen "a dive, a dump where unlicensed liquor is sold". In 1878 shebang was used to refer to the same sort of place, but it was also being used as a general term for almost any kind of business, as 'to sell your shebang for cash on the barrel head'. By the 1920s the phrase "the whole shebang" began appearing.
2. (older meaning) A drinking establishment for the poor; a tavernous shanty.
Some suspect it to have originated as Irish siebin "small mug, cheap ale", which entered English as shebeen "a dive, a dump where unlicensed liquor is sold". In 1878 shebang was used to refer to the same sort of place, but it was also being used as a general term for almost any kind of business, as 'to sell your shebang for cash on the barrel head'. By the 1920s the phrase "the whole shebang" began appearing.
by topcat1957 February 13, 2016