sb. phrase. That which is or constitutes the whole; the whole being: a Shakespearian phrase in common modern use.
1605. Shaks., Macb., I. vii. 5. That but this blow Might be the be all, and the end all.
1830. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), I. 218. This is the end-all and be-all of the anti-liberals’ piety.
1854. E. Neale, Min. Canon, ii. 30. With whom money was the ‘be-all and end-all of existence.’
