Dictionary

from soup to nuts en · ADP

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From the order of courses in a formal full-course dinner, which typically begins with soup and ends with a dessert such as nuts.

Meanings

1. (US, literally) From the first course of a meal to the last.
2. (US, figuratively, informal) From start to finish, from beginning to end; throughout.
   • We went through the whole agenda, from soup to nuts.
   • [That cat] is a broken reed to lean on in the matter of catching mice. My own acquaintance with him is a longstanding one, and I have come to know his psychology from soup to nuts. He hasn't caught a mouse since he was a slip of a kitten. Except when eating, he does nothing but sleep. 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII:

Forms

Relateds

soup-to-nuts

Synonyms

from A to Z · from aardvark to zymurgy · from soda to hock

Translations (9)

pl od A do Z (from beginning to end) · fr de A à Z (from beginning to end) · pl od A do Z (from the first course of the meal to the last) · es desde [la] sopa a [las] nueces (from the first course of the meal to the last) · es desde [el] comienzo hasta [el] fin (from beginning to end) · sh od glave do repa (from beginning to end) · nl Van A tot Z. (from beginning to end) · la ab ovo usque ad mala (from beginning to end) · sh od predjela do deserta (from the first course of the meal to the last)