The Collaborative International Dictionary
Be-all
Be-all \Be"-all`\, n.
The whole; all that is to be. [Poetic]
--Shak.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
be-all
see be.
Wiktionary
be-all
n. (context poetic English) The whole; all that is to be.
Usage examples of "be-all".
Some day--soon, it is to be hoped--managers, singers, and public will awake to a realization that, even in the old operas in which beautiful singing is supposed to be the be-all and end-all, the action ought to be kept coherent.
She had once considered the performing arts the be-all and end-all of ambition.
You high-toned Charlestonians think you're the be-all and end-all, but you're not.
Temporary infusion (as important and profound as it sometimes is) becomes the be-all and end-all of consciousness occasions.