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Synonyms

shoot the works

Idioms  

  1. Expend all one's efforts or capital, as in He's broke after shooting the works on that new office building. [Colloquial; first half of 1900s] Also see the works.

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.

You put your heart and soul into everything and shoot the works, because you got energy and strength and purpose.

From New York Times • Oct. 13, 2022

The dish shows how good Ms. Blamey can be when she starts with underestimated ingredients like cabbages and onion and decides to shoot the works.

From New York Times • Apr. 5, 2022

At Okinawa, where they lost 4,072 planes in 86 days, did the Japanese "shoot the works?"

From Time Magazine Archive

Now, after hearing the Commander in Chief "campaign in the usual sense," he felt that he not only could but should shoot the works.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Well, she's all yours, Lourenço, shoot the works."

From Uller Uprising by Clark, John D.

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.