everything but the kitchen sink
- idiom
- Informal
:
casi todo
- When she moved house, she packed everything but the kitchen sink.
Examples
-
Their car was loaded with everything but the kitchen sink for the camping trip.
-
He tends to buy everything but the kitchen sink when doing his holiday shopping.
-
She packed everything but the kitchen sink for the trip!
-
The store has everything but the kitchen sink for sale.
-
He tends to buy everything but the kitchen sink when doing his holiday shopping.
-
Their car was loaded with everything but the kitchen sink for the camping trip.
-
When she moved house, she packed everything but the kitchen sink.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
All the things or all that someone has
42
3.2
Almost anything you can think of, with only a few exceptions
6
4.1
A very large range of things you can imagine
5
3.2
All the things you can see that people often take or eat quickly
Antonyms
How Complete
∞
1.0
- Informal
9
1.0
∞
1.0
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
everything + but + the + kitchen + sink
The literal parts ('everything' + 'but' + 'the kitchen sink') yield a compositional reading of 'everything except the kitchen sink', so a learner who knows the words can infer a sense of near-total inclusion. However, the phrase functions as a fixed hyperbolic idiom (the kitchen sink is an exaggerated excluded item) and this intensifying, conventionalized use may not be fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Everything but the kitchen sink may come from the idea of moving house: people could pack almost every small thing into a truck, but the heavy kitchen sink would stay behind. That picture explains why the phrase means 'almost everything'.