Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The full range of possibilities; everything. Used with the.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun UK (
colloquial ) All inclusive; everything; a whole package.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[From British slang, perhaps after Sir Montague, Burton (1885–1952), British tailor whose customers purchasing a two-piece suit could add a waistcoat and an extra pair of trousers for a small charge, an option informally called the full Monty.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Unknown. First appeared in print in 1980s, but probably existed before that. The most common theory for its origin is that a purchase (especially that of a full three-piece suit) from Montague Maurice Burton (1885-1952), founder of Burton Menswear, was known as a "full Monty". According to the OED, this etymology is "perhaps the most plausible".
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word full monty.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
johnmperry commented on the word full monty
The real thing, not reduced in any way. cf "the whole nine yards".
June 19, 2008