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megillah

 - 4 dictionary results

me⋅gil⋅lah

[muh-gil-uh; for 2 also Seph. Heb. muh-gee-lah]
–noun, plural -gil⋅lahs, Sephardic Hebrew. -gil⋅loth, -gil⋅lot [-gee-lawt] .
1. Slang.
a. a lengthy, detailed explanation or account: Just give me the facts, not a whole megillah.
b. a lengthy and tediously complicated situation or matter.
2. (italics) Hebrew. a scroll, esp. one containing the Book of Esther. Others are the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, the Book of Ruth, and the Book of Lamentations.
Also, me⋅gil⋅la.


Origin:
1950–55; < Yiddish megile lit., scroll < Heb məgillāh
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Me·gil·lah   (mə-gĭl'ə)   
n.  
  1. Judaism The scroll containing the biblical narrative of the Book of Esther, traditionally read in synagogues to celebrate the festival of Purim.

  2. megillah Slang A tediously detailed or embroidered account: told us the whole megillah.


[Hebrew məgillâ, scroll, from gālal, to roll; see gll in Semitic roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
megillah [məˈgɪlə]

  1. n.
    a long and complicated story. (From Hebrew megillah via Yiddish.) : Here you come in here with this megillah about a flat tire and how your brother-in-law stole your jack and how your arthritis is kicking up—what do you think I am, some sort of shoulder to cry on?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

megillah 
"long, tedious, complicated story," 1957, from Yiddish (e.g. a gantse Megillah "a whole megillah"), lit. "roll, scroll," name of the five O.T. books appointed to be read on certain feast days. The slang use is in ref. to the length of the text.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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