bag of tricks

plural bags of tricks

1. idiomaticA set of skills, techniques, items of information, or other resources used to help achieve professional or personal goals.

   Daly went to his bag of tricks and found, what else, a way to win.

   1993 March 25, Mike Freeman, “Pro Basketball: Nets Win as Coleman Does His Superman Act”, in New York Times, retrieved 03 Sep 2011

   3 more examples

   "When the time comes I'll go down in the little bag of tricks and dig up anything you need, from a jig dance to a jimmy and a bottle of soup."

   1909, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter 13, in The Silver Horde

   I was expecting the tearful ticking off, the girlish recriminations and all the rest of the bag of tricks along those lines.

   1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 14, in Right Ho, Jeeves

   But investigators have a hefty bag of tricks to expose them—powder, chemicals, lasers and lights.

   2002 October 21, Sora Song, “Body of Evidence”, in Time

2. datedidiomaticoften preceded by wholeA collection of items, especially as constituting a very complete set of such items.

   Instead of to the credit side of my account he had put the whole bag of tricks to my debit.

   1908, Jerome K. Jerome, “I Had A Vexing Dream One Night”, in The Angel and the Author; and Others

   1 more example

   When it was built fifteen years ago it was considered a model—six bathrooms, its own electric light plant, steam heating, and independent boiler for hot water, the whole bag of tricks.

   1922, John Buchan, chapter 7, in Huntingtower

   Synonyms: the works, whole ball of wax