The full monty

"The full monty" (or "the full Monty") is a British slang phrase of uncertain origin. It means "everything which is necessary, appropriate or possible; 'the works'".^[1] Similar North American phrases include "the whole kit and caboodle",^[2] "the whole nine yards",^[3] "the whole ball of wax", "the whole enchilada", "the whole shebang", or "[going] the whole hog".

The phrase was first identified in print by lexicographers of the Oxford English Dictionary in the 1980s. Anecdotal evidence exists for earlier usage;^[2] the phrase was also used as the name for some fish and chip shops in Manchester during the same period.^[3][4] The phrase was popularised more widely since the late 1990s via its use as the title of the 1997 U.K. film The Full Monty, plus more recent spin-offs with the same title, wherein its usage (in the context of the story) denotes a complete reveal in the sense of stripping "all the way" on a stage, i.e., total nudity.

Hypothesised origins of the phrase include:

• Field Marshal Montgomery's preference for a large breakfast, even while on campaign.^[2][3][5]
• A full three-piece suit with waistcoat and a spare pair of trousers from the Leeds-based British tailoring company Montague Burton.^[2] When British forces were demobilised after the Second World War, they were issued with a "demob suit". The contract for supplying these suits was partly fulfilled by Montague Burton.^[5]
• Gamblers' jargon, meaning the entire kitty or pot, deriving from the card game called monte.^[5]

• "It's in the dictionary, d'oh!". BBC News. 14 June 2001.

This vocabulary-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e