What does caboodle mean?
Caboodle is an informal noun meaning the whole lot — everything in a given group, set, or collection. In practice, the word almost never appears on its own; it lives inside two fixed phrases: 'the whole caboodle' and 'kit and caboodle'. Both are used when someone wants to emphasise totality, often with a playful or emphatic tone: selling a house might involve selling the furniture, the garden tools, and the whole caboodle. The word has a distinctly colloquial, folksy register, with roots in nineteenth-century American speech, though it is well understood in British English too. It derives from 'boodle', an older term for a crowd or pile of things, which itself may trace back to the Dutch 'boedel' meaning property or estate. Because it is bound so tightly to its phrases, caboodle is less useful as a flexible vocabulary item than as a memorable expression of completeness — a colourful way of saying 'everything, without exception.'
nounThe whole lot; the entire group or collection of things or people being considered. Used almost exclusively in the phrase 'the whole caboodle' (or 'kit and caboodle').
- The whole group or collection of things or people; the entire lot.
"When she sold the farm, she sold the whole caboodle — land, livestock, and equipment."
"He packed up his tools, his van, and the whole caboodle and moved to Queensland."
"The deal covers the buildings, the machinery, and the whole caboodle."
Rarely used in the plural; the word normally appears only in singular fixed phrases such as 'the whole caboodle'.
"Two separate lots came up at auction, and he bought both caboodles outright."
'Caboodle' is so inseparable from its partner words that it almost never travels alone — you'll virtually always find it in 'the whole caboodle' or 'kit and caboodle', making it one of English's most loyal phrase-bound words.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of caboodle
Caboodle emerged in nineteenth-century American English, formed by prefixing 'ca-' to the older word 'boodle', which meant a crowd of people or a collection of things. 'Boodle' itself likely comes from the Dutch 'boedel', meaning property, estate, or household goods. The compound was popularised by its use in the phrase 'kit and caboodle', where 'kit' (a soldier's personal equipment) reinforced the sense of total contents.
How caboodle is actually used
Informal and colloquial. Almost always used in the fixed expressions 'the whole caboodle' or 'kit and caboodle'; standalone use is rare. The word carries a folksy, slightly old-fashioned American flavour but is understood in both British and US English.
Easily confused with caboodle
'Boodle' can mean a dishonestly gained amount of money or a crowd of people, whereas 'caboodle' means the entire group or set of things, usually in the phrase 'whole caboodle'.