shebang

as inball of wax
as inbunch
as inequipment

Synonyms for shebang

noun the whole kit and caboodle

Word Origin & History

1862, "hut, shed, shelter," popularized among soldiers in the U.S. Civil War, but like other Civil War slang (e.g. skedaddle) of uncertain origin. Perhaps an alteration of shebeen (q.v.), but shebang in the sense "tavern," a seemingly necessary transitional sense, is not attested before 1878 and shebeen seems to have been not much used in the U.S. Bartlett's 1877 edition describes it as "A strange word that had its origin during the late civil war. It is applied alike to a room, a shop, or a hut, a tent, a cabin; an engine house." Phrase the whole shebang first recorded 1869, but relation to the earlier use of the word is obscure. Either or both senses also might be mangled pronunciations of French char-à-banc, a bus-like wagon with many seats. For an older guess:

Example Sentences for shebang

Nothin'll be too good for this shebang and us if we get that agreement back.

Say, how do you get into the female department of this shebang, anyhow?

She runs the shebang, and there's two of her sons by her first husband in it.

I ain't fit to run this shebang, so we need you, and need you bad.

"I say, there are no secrets in this shebang," he said smiling.

So, men, just come into my shebang and make yourselves at home.

In the evening I went to Griffith's "shebang" and listened to sacred music.

Spencer and I built, lower in park, shebang with table, etc.

So the few lines that has gone from this shebang has been writ by yours truly.

My pal and me can run this shebang, and just take my word for it, we mean to do the same.

shebang

Synonyms for shebang

More words related to shebang

ball of wax

bunch

bunches

equipment