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megillah

or me·gil·la

[ muh-gil-uh; for 2 also Sephardic Hebrew muh-gee-lah ]
/ məˈgɪl ə; for 2 also Sephardic Hebrew mə giˈlɑ /
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noun, plural me·gil·lahs, Sephardic Hebrew me·gil·loth, me·gil·lot [muh-gee-lawt]. /mə giˈlɔt/.
Slang.
  1. a lengthy, detailed explanation or account: Just give me the facts, not the whole megillah.
  2. a lengthy and tediously complicated situation or matter.
(italics)Hebrew. 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.
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Origin of megillah

First recorded in1910–15; from Yiddish megile, from Biblical Hebrew məgillāh “scroll, roll, volume,” from gālal “to roll”

Words nearby megillah

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use megillah in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for megillah

megillah
/ (məˈɡɪlə, Hebrew miɡiˈla) /

noun plural -lahs or -loth (Hebrew -ˈlɔt) Judaism
a scroll of the Book of Esther, read on the festival of Purim
a scroll of the Book of Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, or Ecclesiastes
slang anything, such as a story or letter, that is too long or unduly drawn out

Word Origin for megillah

Hebrew: scroll, from galal to roll
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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