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 enchilada
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Related to enchilada: quesadilla, the whole enchilada
big cheese
An important, successful, or influential person.
Jacob thinks he's a big cheese now that he's been promoted to assistant manager.
I'm the big cheese around here, so you have to do what I say.
See also: big, cheese
big enchilada
1. The most important or powerful person in a group, organization, business, or movement (e.g., the boss, leader, etc.). Primarily heard in US, South Africa.
I think it sounds like a great idea, but you'll have to ask the big enchilada first.
2. An object or goal of great value, importance, or consequence. Primarily heard in US, South Africa.
We only need to win two more games in the tournament to take home the big enchilada.
See also: big, enchilada
the whole enchilada
slang Every part of a multifaceted thing or situation taken together as a whole; the whole thing.
Building up an entertainment system from scratch sounds good, but buying the whole enchilada in one shot is much more convenient.
If you sign up today, you can get the whole enchilada for just $2,000.
See also: enchilada, whole
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
whole enchilada
Inf. the whole thing; everything. (From Spanish.) Nobody, but nobody, ever gets the whole enchilada. Richard wants the whole enchilada.
See also: enchilada, whole
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
big cheese
Also, big shot or gun or wheel or enchilada . An important, powerful person; the boss. For example, She loved being the big cheese of her company; the big guns in Congress are bound to change the President's bill; you'd better not act like a big shot among your old friends; Harry was the big wheel in his class ; and You'll have to get permission from the big enchilada. The first term dates from the late 1800s and its origin is disputed. Some think it comes from the Urdu word chiz or cheez for "thing," but others hold it plays on the English word "chief." Big gun is much older, dating from the early 1800s; big shot became very popular in the late 1920s, particularly when used for underworld leaders of gangsters; big wheel dates from about the same period. Big enchilada, often put as the big enchilada, is the newest, dating from the early 1970s.
See also: big, cheese
big enchilada
see under big cheese.
See also: big, enchilada
whole ball of wax, the
Also, the whole enchilada or shooting match or shebang . Everything, all the elements, the entire affair. For example, The union demanded higher wages, a pension plan, job security-the whole ball of wax, or The contract includes paperback rights, film rights, electronic media-the whole enchilada, or She lost her job, her pension, her health-care coverage, the whole shooting match. Not all the allusions in these slangy terms are clear. Ball of wax may refer to a 17th-century English legal practice whereby land was divided among heirs by covering scraps of paper representing portions of land with wax, rolling each into a ball, and drawing the balls from a hat. An enchilada combines several foods inside a tortilla; a shooting match denotes a shooting competition; and a shebang is a rude hut or shelter. The first two of these slangy terms date from the second half of the 1900s, the last two from the late 1800s. For synonyms, see whole kit and caboodle; whole megillah.
See also: ball, of, whole
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
the whole enchilada AMERICAN, INFORMAL
If you describe something as the whole enchilada, you mean that it is as complete or extreme as possible. We should bomb them, send in the Marines — the whole enchilada. Consumers who want this software can download the whole enchilada from their website. Note: The usual British expression is the whole caboodle.
See also: enchilada, whole
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
the big enchilada a person or thing of great importance. North American informal
See also: big, enchilada
the whole enchilada the whole situation; everything. North American informal
1992 New York Times High-tech gadgetry is best viewed as the spice, but not the whole enchilada.
An enchilada is an American Spanish word for a tortilla served with chilli sauce and a filling of meat or cheese.
See also: enchilada, whole
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
the big enchi;lada (American English, informal, humorous) the most important person or thing: New Hampshire is the big enchilada in American politics.
An enchilada is a Mexican dish with meat and a spicy sauce.
See also: big, enchilada
the whole enchi;lada (American English, informal) the whole situation; everything: We had a great time on vacation, and it only cost us $500 for the whole enchilada.
An enchilada is a Mexican dish with meat and a spicy sauce.
See also: enchilada, whole
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
big cheese
n. the boss; the key figure; the leader. Here’s a note from the big cheese telling me to come in for a chat.
See also: big, cheese
big enchilada
n. the boss; the leader. (see also big cheese.) The big enchilada has sent word that it’s safe to return.
See also: big, enchilada
the whole enchilada
n. the whole thing; everything. (From Spanish.) Pete wants the whole enchilada.
See also: enchilada, whole
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
whole enchilada
The entirety of something; everything.
See also: enchilada, whole
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
big cheese
A very important person. The phrase seems to have come from, literally, a very large wheel of cheese. After President Jefferson was given one of Cheshire in 1802, other dairies made and displayed huge wheels for publicity purposes. The cheeses attracted lots of attention, and so it wasn't much of a jump to referring to someone who attracted attention as a “big cheese.” Although some have suggested that “cheese” came from the Hindu word “chiz,” for “thing” that the British heard as “cheese,” no paper trail exists to show that Americans started using the phrase though any transatlantic connection. Similar “big” phrases are more common, such as big deal and big wheel.
See also: big, cheese
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price
See also:
a big cheese
big cheese
big cheese, the
a big name/noise
a big noise
big noise
noise
a big deal
big deal
big deal!

Word History
What does 'shebang' mean?
shebang
[SH;;baNG]

NOUN
informal
a matter, operation, or set of circumstances.
"the Mafia boss who's running the whole shebang"
NORTH AMERICAN
archaic
a rough hut or shelter.

The word appeared out of nowhere with multiple meanings
Lexicographers have been puzzled by the origin of the rather odd word shebang since its appearance in the English language during the American Civil War. The word has no obvious antecedents, and it appeared with several different meanings used roughly around the same time. In its early years, shebang could refer to such dissimilar things as a type of dwelling, a vehicle, or a drinking establishment, or it could be used in a general sense for the entirety of something, as in the common phrase "the whole shebang."

shebang
'Shebang' entered English around the time of the Civil War and has been used to refer to a type of dwelling, a vehicle, or a drinking establishment. Though theories abound, no one is entirely certain where the word comes from.

Usage evidence indicates that the word may have been first used in reference to a type of crude shelter. Walt Whitman used the word in that way in Specimen Days, a prose work of "diary-jottings" and "war-memoranda" from 1862 to 1865, in which he writes of the terrible conditions of the soldiers living in "shebang enclosures of bushes" and of soldiers coming "out from their tents or shebangs of bushes." In addition, there is evidence from around the same time of the word being applied to a hut, shed, cabin, and other types of buildings, including inns and taverns. Considering these similar applications, one might think that the story of shebang is a straightforward one concerning a word originating as a name for types of small buildings or dwellings. However, another early use of shebang was for a vehicle, which makes one wonder about the exact origin of the word and how its two very different senses came about almost simultaneously. Mark Twain used shebang for a vehicle in his novel Roughing It.

You're welcome to ride here as long as you please, but this shebang's chartered.
; Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872

Some etymologists surmise that the application of the word for a type of building may have been influenced by an Irish or French word. In Irish, s;b;n means "illicit whiskey" and is the source of shebeen, a word used in English for an unlicensed or illegally operated drinking establishment that is older than shebang by a century or so.

A little country ale-house, or in Irish parlance, shebeen, which stood at the meeting of four bleak roads.
; Charles Lever, Charles O' Malley, 1841


In French, chabane means "hut" and it has been speculated that shebang is a corruption of the word, which could have been familiar to Civil War soldiers from Louisiana. Both are certainly plausible origins of the "building" sense of shebang, but they are unsubstantiated. As for the "vehicle" sense of the word, in French char-;-banc refers to a carriage or coach with benches. It has been suggested that shebang is a mangling of that word, but evidence, again, is lacking.

Another mystery of shebang is its vague general sense referring to everything that is involved in what is under consideration, which is first recorded around the same time as the "building" and "vehicle" senses of the word. In a 1869 letter to his publishers, for example, Mark Twain writes, "I like the book, I like you and your style and your business vim, and believe the chebang will be a success." It has been conjectured that this use is a generalizing of shebang, taking the idea of a building or vehicle and its contents as a whole entity and extending it to the entirety of other things. Whatever the case, shebang took on an additional meaning leading to the familiar phrase "the whole shebang."

Given that the Irish term shebeen was being used about a century prior to shebang, it is tempting to consider shebang as developing from shebeen. It would, after all, give some insight into the the word’s "building" and "tavern" meanings. Truth be told, however, there is no verifiable linguistic trail between shebeen and shebang, which means that the sudden emergence of shebang with its multiple various meanings in immediate currency remains a lexicographer’s puzzle.