During the Second World War, American combat planes were equipped with big machine guns that were used to fire incessantly at targets. To solve the problem of having to reload the machine guns frequently, the bullets for the gun were packed into heavy chains called gun belts that were twenty-seven feet (8.2 meters), or nine yards long. When the plane’s crew encountered targets that were particularly challenging, they sometimes had to fire the entire gun belt at just that one target. They began to refer to this as “giving the adversary the full nine yards.” This became a common expression among service members and veterans after the war.

In the 1960’s, an athlete named Ralph Boston broke the world long jump record by jumping twenty-seven feet and half an inch (8.3 meters.) This was widely reported under the headline “Boston Goes The Whole Nine Yards!” It was after this report that the phrase gained wide usage. Today, “to go the whole nine yards” is commonly used to mean “to go all the way” or “to take full measure.”