megillah
Americannoun
plural
megillahs,plural
megilloth, megillot-
Slang.
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a lengthy, detailed explanation or account.
Just give me the facts, not the whole megillah.
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a lengthy and tediously complicated situation or matter.
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(italics) a scroll, especially one containing the Book of Esther. Others are the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, the Book of Ruth, and the Book of Lamentations.
noun
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a scroll of the Book of Esther, read on the festival of Purim
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a scroll of the Book of Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, or Ecclesiastes
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slang anything, such as a story or letter, that is too long or unduly drawn out
Etymology
Origin of megillah
First recorded in 1910–15; from Yiddish megile, from Biblical Hebrew məgillāh “scroll, roll, volume,” from gālal “to roll”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
No, wait, he wants to buy the whole megillah!
From The Verge • Apr. 16, 2022
Pride’s sisters and her father testified for the prosecution, and the whole megillah has estranged Pride and Warren from the rest of their family.
From Washington Post • Aug. 17, 2015
At trial, and then in defending their victory on appeal, they went for the whole megillah: a broad ruling that marriage is a fundamental constitutional right for everyone, full stop, right now.
From Slate • Sep. 20, 2012
“It’s a big megillah, this swim,” Nyad says, back at home, shoving her two dogs off a couch in her house in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
From New York Times • Dec. 1, 2011
"There's a whole megillah about being a straight man," he said.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
