wax

Something completely dissimilar. It's one thing to babysit your friends' kids from time to time, but having your own children is a completely different ball of wax.

Someone or something that can be easily influenced or changed. You need to set some boundaries if you want them to stop treating you like a nose of wax! He is not just a nose of wax for you to bend to your whims.

Fig. to increase and then decrease, as the phases of the moon. As the moon waxes and wanes, so does the height of the tide change. Voter sentiment about the tax proposal waxes and wanes with each passing day.

Fig. to speak in anger and with indignity. Seeing the damage done by the careless children caused the preacher to wax wroth at their parents.

Fig. to speak with eloquence. Perry never passed up a chance to wax eloquent at a banquet.

Fig. to speak poetically. I hope you will pardon me if I wax poetic for a moment when I say that your lovely hands drift across the piano keys like swans on a lake.

the whole thing; the whole matter or affair; the entire affair or organization. John is not a good manager. Instead of delegating jobs to others, he runs the whole shooting match himself. There's not a hard worker in that whole shooting match. I will be glad to be finished with this project. I want to be done with the whole ball of wax. I am tired of this job. I am fed up with the whole ball of wax.

something not at all similar Sports are very popular but the Olympics are a different ball of wax.

everything She started working on the project in 1999, and within six months she was responsible for the whole ball of wax.

to become stronger and then weaker Religious influence on politics has waxed and waned since the founding of this country.

to grow bigger and stronger and then to become smaller or weaker again Their influence waxes and wanes depending on which party is in power.

to talk about something with a lot of interest and excitement I recall Roz waxing lyrical about the flatness of his stomach.

the whole of something, including everything that is connected with it She started working on the project in '96 and within six months was running the whole ball of wax.

Increase and decrease, as in size, number, strength, or intensity, as in Enrollments in these programs wax and wane from year to year. This expression alludes to the phases of the moon, with its periodic changes in size. It was first recorded in the 1300s.

Also, the whole enchilada or shooting match or shebang . Everything, all the elements, the entire affair. For example, The union demanded higher wages, a pension plan, job security-the whole ball of wax, or The contract includes paperback rights, film rights, electronic media-the whole enchilada, or She lost her job, her pension, her health-care coverage, the whole shooting match. Not all the allusions in these slangy terms are clear. Ball of wax may refer to a 17th-century English legal practice whereby land was divided among heirs by covering scraps of paper representing portions of land with wax, rolling each into a ball, and drawing the balls from a hat. An enchilada combines several foods inside a tortilla; a shooting match denotes a shooting competition; and a shebang is a rude hut or shelter. The first two of these slangy terms date from the second half of the 1900s, the last two from the late 1800s. For synonyms, see whole kit and caboodle; whole megillah.

Informal In the medium of phonograph recordings.

As much chance as a wax cat in hell: a New England expression meaning no chance at all.