Kit & Caboodle – Dale’s Daily Data

When we’re off the air in the studio we’re always talking about all kinds of things….serious things, personal things, talking about music and entertainers and one of our favorite topics is the origination of words and phrases.  Kit and caboodle was a phrase that came up the other day.  Generally we know that it means “the whole thing, all of it.”  But where does it come from?  What’s the origination?

A number of sources agree the term kit and caboodle is British.  When British soldiers went off to battle they’d put all their belongings, all their stuff, in what they called a kit bag. In this country we might call it a knapsack.  Kit likely comes from the old British term “kith” loosely referring to a person’s estate or everything that he owns.

Caboodle was originally boodle meaning a group of people, a group of friends.   It sometimes was used to describe a person’s entire estate.

So when you hear the term “kit and caboodle” it means everything a person owns and all of his friends.

A negative American variation on caboodle refers to bootie – something illegal like money or a bribe. 

SOURCE:  phrases.org.uk