Meanings
alternative soup to nuts
- USfigurativelyinformalFrom start to finish, from beginning to end; throughout.
We went through the whole agenda, from soup to nuts.
1 more example
[That cat] is a broken reed to lean on in the matter of catching mice. My own acquaintance with him is a longstanding one, and I have come to know his psychology from soup to nuts. He hasn't caught a mouse since he was a slip of a kitten. Except when eating, he does nothing but sleep.
1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIISynonyms: from A to Z, from soda to hock, from aardvark to zymurgy
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseFrom start to finish, from beginning to end; throughout.
Origin
From the order of courses in a formal full-course dinner, which typically begins with soup and ends with a dessert such as nuts.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch Van A tot Z.
- Van A tot Z.from beginning to end
French de A à Z
- de A à Zfrom beginning to end
Latin ab ovo usque ad mala
- ab ovo usque ad malafrom beginning to end
Polish od A do Z, od A do Z
- od A do Zfrom the first course of the meal to the last
- od A do Zfrom beginning to end
Spanish desde [la] sopa a [las] nueces, desde [el] comienzo hasta [el] fin
- desde [la] sopa a [las] nuecesfrom the first course of the meal to the last
- desde [el] comienzo hasta [el] finfrom beginning to end
Cite this entry
from soup to nuts. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/from%20soup%20to%20nuts
“from soup to nuts.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/from%20soup%20to%20nuts. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “from soup to nuts,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/from%20soup%20to%20nuts.
Source: from soup to nuts on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.