Meaning: everything inclusive (definition).


Example: The book contains everything you want to know about the topic, the whole ball of wax.
Origins: Uncertain, but first recorded in 9th edition of Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 1953. Associated with advertising usage. May also have origins in old English estate law as a way to assign inheritance. (Source.)
Rewrites: the whole block of beeswax the whole wad of gum the entire lump of coal the bursting cache of trash the rich roll of cash the full load of laundry entire wall with cracks, dents, and all
Discussion: With no clear origins on which to draw for inspiration, I’ll break it down into parts – “ball of wax”, “whole ball”, “ball”, “wax”, etc. 
All you ever might want to know about wax from Candle Cauldron and Rotblatt Sculpture.