whole nine yards, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

whole nine yards n.

also full ten yards, whole nine

[ety. unknown, but most of the many suggestions involve supposed standards of measurement, from the dimensions of a nun’s habit to the capacity of a cement truck and the length of an ammunition clip to that of a hangman’s rope. However, few, when checked, actually run to nine yards. It is most likely to be the use of nine as a form of ‘mystic’ number]

everything, the complete package.

1912		Mt Vernon Signal (KY) 28 June 1/2: As we have been gone for a few days and failed to get all the news for this issue we will give you the whole six yards in our next.
1921		Spartanburg Herald-Jrnl 7 May 3/2: [headline] The Whole Six Yards of It.
1960		Michigan’s Voices II 41: Mad, mad, mad, the consequence of house, home, kids, respectability, status as a college professor and the whole nine yards, as a brush salesman who came by the house was fond of saying.
1964		Tucson (AZ) Daily Citizen 25 Apr. 25: ‘Give ’em the whole nine yards’ means an item-by-item report on any project.
1977		L. Heinemann Close Quarters (1987) 261: RPGs, automatic weapons, the whole nine yards.
1986		C. Hiaasen Tourist Season (1987) 188: I told him Skip was still under the weather, suffering from exhaustion, the whole nine yards.
1991		N. George ‘Michael Bivins’ in Buppies, B-Boys, Baps and Bohos (1994) 65: These kids are baaaaaad little dudes with beepers and the whole nine.
1999		T. Fontana ‘Napoleon's Boney Parts’ Oz ser. 3 ep. 2 [TV script] Talking about he sold drugs to the Governor, the whole nine.
1998		Hip-Hop Connection Dec. 28: Checking the mics, the decks, the whole nine yards ad nauseam.
2000		P. Beatty Tuff 26: Tuff, it was dead bodies, the whole nine.
2006		C. Carr Our Town 89: We are armed out there. We have either AKs, SKs, Uzis, M-16s [...] the whole nine yards.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] Muhfuckas had AKs, ow-wops, the whole nine!
2012		L. Berney Whiplash River [ebook] The whole nine yards, fountain filled with champagne and a stripper popping out of a cake .
2015		Chief Keef ‘Superheroes’ 🎵 Smokin’ Liu Kang kush, Sub-Zero, the whole nine, ay.
2017		A. Parks Bloody January 78: Editorial lambasting Glasgow Police, the full ten yards.
2020		D. Winslow ‘The San Diego Zoo’ in Broken 158: Chris gives him the details on Victor Lopez, make of his car, plates, whereabouts—the whole nine.
2020		D. Whish-Wilson Shore Leave 82: [He] wore the bleached jeans and boots, swastika tattoo over his heart; the whole nine yards.