Idiom meaning, usage examples, facts

1. The girl’s father decided to spare no expense in getting the very best of everything for his daughter’s wedding. He wanted the whole nine yards.
2. We could save a little money on this dress by using less cloth in the skirt if you don’t want to go the whole nine yards.

Compare to: pull out all the stops; go to town; go whole hog. The term comes from the World War II era where a fighter pilot’s chain of ammunition was twenty-seven feet long (or nine yards). So when he fired all this on the target, he said “I gave it the whole nine yards” — meaning, he gave it all he had.