be-all

English

Noun

be-all (plural be-alls)

1. (poetic) The whole; all that is to be.
   • a. 1606, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 1, scene 7, lines 4–5:

     That but this blow / Might be the be-all and the end-all!

   • 2007, Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, Be In It to Win It:

     […] to be happy with their lot in life, content with things as they are, things that may once have been be-alls and absolute end-alls but that lost their intoxication after five years, put them on automatic pilot after ten and became a prison after fifteen.

Derived terms

• be-all and end-all, end-all and be-all

Anagrams

• Abell, Bella, label