The Idiom Attic - a collection of hundreds of English idioms, each one explained.
The meaning of "bells and whistles"
" Bells and whistles "
Meaning:
Attractive additional features or trimmings.
Example:
It was expensive to get all the optional extras for my new car, but I decided that I wasn't going to get another for a few years so why not go for all the bells and whistles?
Where did it originate?:
USA, late 20th century. First used in the computing world to refer to machines with lots of new features. Probably ultimately deriving as an allusion to fairgound organs, which have numerous bells and whistles.
