from soup to nuts

Idioms  

1. Also,. From beginning to end, throughout, as in We went through the whole agenda, from soup to nuts, or She had to learn a whole new system from A to Z, or It rained from start to finish, or We did over the whole house from stem to stern. The first expression, with its analogy to the first and last courses of a meal, appeared in slightly different forms (such as from potage to cheese) from the 1500s on; the precise wording here dates only from the mid-1900s. The second expression alludes to the first and last letters of the Roman alphabet; see also alpha and omega. The third comes from racing and alludes to the entire course of the race; it dates from the mid-1800s. The last variant is nautical, alluding to the front or stem, and rear or stern, of a vessel.

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Example Sentences

Because a movie is edited and there's never a take that's perfect from soup to nuts, from A to Z.

From Salon • Jun. 1, 2023

"He just admitted to a civil rights violation from soup to nuts."

From Fox News • Dec. 17, 2021

Basically, a major distributor of media combined with a big producer of media, giving the new company the potential of controlling the entire media process, from soup to nuts.

From New York Times • Jul. 14, 2018

It now appears that this site was not tested from start to finish, from soup to nuts, until two weeks before it launched.

From Slate • Oct. 28, 2013

See here," he said, having bitten the end off the next in order; "I've thought this thing out from soup to nuts.

From The Prince and Betty by Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)

Related Words

• absolutely
• entirely
• perfectly
• positively
• quite
• thoroughly
• totally
• wholly