subs. phr. (colloquial).—The whole; everything; the BLOOMING LOT (q.v.): a Shakespearean phrase in common modern use—‘the be-all and end-all.’
1605. SHAKESPEARE, Macbeth, i. 7. 5. This blow might be the BE-ALL AND THE END-ALL here.
1830. THOMPSON; 1854, NEAL.
