CABOODLE

[Dr. Goodword]

• caboodle •

Pronunciation: kê-bu-dêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: (Slang) A boodle, a large set or collection, a crowd, everything in a set or group.

Notes: Today's Good Word has been all but lost to the language in North America except for its appearance in the crystallized idiomatic phrase the whole kit and caboodle meaning "every piece of a set". Occasionally we hear the whole caboodle or even to sell the caboodle but such occurrences are now passing rare.

In Play: To save this very Good and funny little Word we need to use it in creative ways: "Completing this project on time will require a caboodle of programmers working full time on it." Somehow this sounds much more emphatic and dramatic than a large team. "Jack Uzi's salary as company CEO is $500 million a year plus a caboodle of stock (whose value is questionable considering Jack's abilities)."

Word History: The origin of today's Good Word is not a settled issue but we have quite a bit of evidence for it. Caboodle is a variant of boodle "crowd" from Dutch boedel "estate, entirety of one's possessions". This explains the sense of "a lot" and the fact that its connotation is generally positive. The pseudoprefix ca- was probably added to the older phrase kit and boodle to alliterate with kit or it may be a US variant of the emphatic prefix ker- found on kerplop and kersplash, as suggested by Michael Quinion. A kit, of course, is either a complete set of tools or equipment, as a plumber's kit or shaving kit, or the bag that holds them, as an empty shaving kit. Put together, we get the senses of "much" and "completeness" suggested by this idiom.

[Perry]

Love the expression. I wonder why it is used less and less?

[skinem]

I have heard the word "caboodle" referring to a small case or travel kit holding makeup, etc., but I've only heard this in the area I'm living in now.

[Perry]

I have heard the word "caboodle" referring to a small case or travel kit holding makeup, etc., but I've only heard this in the area I'm living in now.

Middle Tennessee puts you near the Chatanooga Choo Choo. Maybe there is a local connection between caboodle and caboose (which oddly enough spent almost 120 years on the seas before taking up railroading)?

[gailr]

I have heard the word "caboodle" referring to a small case or travel kit holding makeup, etc., but I've only heard this in the area I'm living in now.

You're not alone, skinny. My nieces are the target audience for Caboodles. [warning: link uses flash]

-gailr

"All your groovy storage are belong to us!"―Caboodles®

[skinem]

You got it Gail!