all

all, a., n., and adv.
  (ɔːl)
  Forms: sing. 1– all (late WS. 1–3 eall, eal), 1–7 al (north. 4–5 alle). pl. 1–5 alle (WS. 1–3 ealle, north. 2–7 al), 5– all. For early inflected forms, see below, D.
  [Common to all the Teutonic stock, but not found beyond: cf. OS. all, al, OFris. al, ol, OHG. al (all-er), ON. all-r, Goth. all-s. Properly adj. but passing on one side into a n., on the other into an adv. As an adj. it usually precedes, but sometimes follows its n.]
  A. adj. I. with n.
  1. With n. sing. The entire or unabated amount or quantity of; the whole extent, substance, or compass of; the whole. a. with proper names, names of substances, and abstracts, (a) all England, all flesh, all wisdom, all speaking; also with day, night, spring, summer, Lent, August, and other definite portions of time.

886 O.E. Chron., And him all Angel cyn to cirde. a 1000 Metr. Ps. lv. 9 Ic ealne dǽᵹ, ecne Drihten wordum weorðiᵹe. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 17 Þrouwede deð for al moncun. c 1175 Cott. Hom. 225 Of þan wearð eft ȝestaþeled eall middenard. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 779 In longyng al nyȝt he lengeȝ. 1340 Ayenb. 17 To huam alle triacle went in to venym. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xxviii. 18 Al power is ȝouun to me, in heuene and in erthe. 1473 J. Warkworth Chron. 3 And so Kynge Edward was possessed of alle Englonde. 1535 Coverdale Judg. xix. 13 Tarye at Gibea or at Ramah allnight. 1611 Bible 1 Pet. i. 24 All flesh is as grasse. 1665 Marvell Corr. 50 (1872–5) II. 186, I..beseech God to continue you in all health and well-fare. 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. v. 79 Horace..hath set him above the old Philosophers, as a Teacher of all Virtue. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 576 At Exeter all Devonshire had been gathered together to welcome him. 1862 Trench Miracles Introd. 12 This speaking is diffused over all time.

  (b) All that is possible, the greatest possible.

1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. i. 57 St. I in all haste was sent. A. And I with all vnwillingnesse will goe. 1879 Wild Life in S.C. 258 A weasel..makes all speed into the fern.

  b. with a defining word (dem. or poss. adj., genitive case, etc.) all precedes def. word, or, less usually, follows the n.

855 O.E. Chron., Ofer al his rice. 860 Ibid., To allum þam rice. 870 Ibid., Þa Deniscan..þæt lond all ᵹe eodon. c 1280 A Sarmun in E.E.P. (1862) 7 Of al þis ioi þer nis non end. 1297 R. Glouc. 122 And schewede hem al þe wey wyder he schulde wende. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 660 And songen al the roundel lustily. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 174 You haue but mistooke me all this while. 1667–8 Marvell Corr. 84 (1872–5) II. 231 We are, as for all other your kindnesse, obliged to you. 1682 Dryden Medal 304 Frogs and Toads and all the Tadpole Train. 1830 Tennyson May Queen ii. 24 And all the world is still. 1847 ― Princess i. 193 With all my heart, With my full heart.

  c. So when the n. is understood, as all this, all that, all mine, all your friend's. All now follows it; as take it all (or all of it).

a 700 on Ruthwell Cross, Ic þæt al biheald. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 49 God þe al þis heom haueð isend. c 1220 Hali Meid. 31 Þat heo hit al weldeð. c 1300 Leg. Rood 18 Al hit com of one more. Mod. All this is distasteful to me. I see it all now.

  † d. Following the. Obs. rare.

1297 R. Glouc. 367 Þer nas prince in þe al worlde of so noble fame. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 313 Ech preest which schulde folewe thilk ensaumpling thoruȝ the al fulnes and likenes of it.

  † e. Followed by a. Obs. repl. by a whole.

c 1300 St. Brand. 60 Her ȝe habbeth al a ȝer meteles i-beo. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3010 A malady..lastand alle a yhere. c 1350 Will. Palerne 2215 Þei trauailed al a niȝt. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 620 She wepeth, wailleth, al a day or two. 1523 Ld. Berners Froissart I. liv. 75 Ther was one [assault] endured al a day.

  2. With n. pl. The entire number of; the individual components of, without exception. (All precedes the n. or defining adj.; rarely, in poetry, follows the n.). a. without defining word. Also in phr. (to be) all things to all men.

878 O.E. Chron., Him to comon onᵹen Sumor sæte alle and Wilsætan. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 296 Wið ealle wundela, genim þas wyrte. 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1135 Þa þestrede þe dæi ouer al landes. c 1220 Hali Meid. 5 Freo ouer alle fram alle worldliche weanen. 1366 Mandeville ii. 10 Alle Men knowen not that. 1382 Bible (Wycliff) I Cor. ix. 22 To alle men I am maad alle thingis. 1570 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 118 Marke all aiges. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iv. 9 A man who is th' abstracts of all faults That all men follow. 1611 Bible (A. V.) 1 Cor. ix. 22 To the weake became I as weake, That I might gain the weake. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all meanes save some. 1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 424 All men think all men mortal, but themselves. 1763 Churchill Prophecy of Famine 11 If they, directed by Paul's holy pen, Become discreetly all things to all men, That all men may become all things to them, Envy may hate, but justice can't condemn. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 52 All men have done, and I like all, amiss. 1860 Abp. Thomson Laws of Th. §77. 131 The word All in its proper logical sense means ‘each and every;’ but it stands sometimes for ‘all taken together.’ 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets iii. 89 Theognis bids his friend (Cyrnus) be as much as possible all things to all men. 1940 Wodehouse Quick Service ix. 86, I pointed out to him that it is of the essence of a barmaid's duties that she be all things to all men. 1973 Times 25 Apr. 25/4 The agency's charter tries to gloss over..these fundamental differences by instructing..its president and his staff to be all things to all men.

  b. with defining word. (Also with n. understood, as all those, all mine, all Henry's.)

885 O.E. Chron., And þa scipo alle ᵹeræhton. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 35 Ealle þa oþre leorning-cnihtas. c 1175 Cott. Hom. 219 He and halle his iféren. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 97 Ealle þas þing and moniȝe oðre. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 55, I fonde þere Freris, alle þe foure ordres. 1660 T. Stanley Hist. Phil. (1701) 113/1 He form'd a Law, which all the old Men follow'd. 1782 Cowper J. Gilpin 114 The dogs did bark, the children screamed, Up flew the windows all. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 171 They had watched all his motions, and lectured him on all his youthful follies.

  c. with a pers. or rel. pron. (In the nom. all was formerly often prefixed; e.g. all we, for which the mod. usage is we all, or all of us.)

c 1000 ælfric Saints' L. i. 140 Ealle h{iacu} sind on Godes ᵹesihðe. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 125 Ure drihten and ure alesend i-unne us allen. c 1200 Moral Ode 176 Ealle he scullè þuder come. 1382 Wyclif Isa. liii. 6 Alle wee as shep erreden. [1611 Alle we like sheepe haue gone astray.] 1557 More Edward V (1641) 15 The place that they al preach of. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Ep. (1867) 79 Euery man for him selfe, and god for us all. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 142 Yea, all of them at Bristow lost their heads. 1665 Ld. Dorset, To all you Ladies now on Land. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 93 ¶1 We all of us complain of the Shortness of Time. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. iv. iv, And they all dead did lie. 1820 Keats St. Agnes xi, They are all here to-night. Mod. We all know him; all of us have said so at times; I saw you all; I have heard it from all of you. He took down all our names, or the names of all of us. ‘And so say all of us.’

  d. all very well, fine or acceptable as far as it goes (implying that it may be unsatisfactory in other ways); similarly all very fine (and large) (now arch.).

1853 C. Brontë Villette II. xix. 67 This would have been all very well, if he had not added to such kindly and unobtrusive evidence a certain wilfulness in discharging what he called debts. 1887 Referee 7 Aug. 2/4 How many people passed the turnstiles at the Alexandra Palace I am not in a position to say, but that the attendance was all very fine and large is beyond dispute. 1953 C. Day Lewis Italian Visit iii. 34 Terribly apt to ask what Our all-very-fine sensations were in aid of. 1961 Essays & Stud. 21 It is all very well to scoff at H. G. Wells because much of his writing betrays a perky mediocrity, if you have a vision of life not indeed identical with his but somewhat comparable in scope. 1985 New Yorker 19 Aug. 27/2 One has heard of holiday romances, which are all very well, but really, in one's own home!

  † 3. = Every. L. omnis, Fr. tout (tout homme). Obs. exc. as in b.
  This use, unknown to OE., seems to have begun with thing, in which the sing. and pl. being alike, alle thing passed from pl. into coll., and then simple sing. In later times often combined, althing (cf. anything, something, nothing), and used advb.: see below C 2 b. All day seems to be after Fr. toujours. The extension to all-kin, all-gate, all man, all body, etc., seems northern; aa'thing, aa'bodie, aa'gate, are still common Sc. for everything, everybody, every way. (See also infra C 2 b.)

c 1000 ælfric Saints' L. i. 136 God ælmihtiᵹ wát ealle þing togædere..ealle þing þe æfre wæron. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 7 Wurðian alre erest þin feder and þin moder ouer alle eordliche þing. 1297 R. Glouc. 371 Edgar Aþelyng And kyng Macolom were þo glade þoru alle þyng. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. xi, And þis we seeþ al day [quotidie], with oure yen [ed. 1582 this we see each day]. 1526 Tindale Phil. ii. 14 Do all thynge [1611 all things] without murmurynge. 1549 Bk. Com. Prayer, Pref. on Ceremonies, Some bee so newe fangle that they woulde innovate all thyng [1604 all things]. 1556 Lauder Tract. 144 Ȝour..dewtie..That ȝe aucht tyll all Creature. 1558 Kennedy in Wod. Soc. Misc. I. 174 Lat all Christiane man haue refuge to the juge. 1570 R. Ascham Scholem. 62 Good order in all thyng.

  b. esp. with kin (obs.: see alkin), kind, and manner.

1366 Mandeville xx. 215 Spices and alle manere of marchaundises. 1535 Coverdale Josh. iii. 15 All maner watris of the londe. 1548 Udall etc. Erasm. Paraphr. Pref. 14 Void of almaner parcialitie of affection. 1607 Shakes. Timon i. i. 67 All kinde of natures that labour on the bosome of this Sphere. a 1609 ? Shakes. Lover's Compl. 121 All kind of arguments. c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) II. 21 Avoid all manner of evil. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 32 ¶2, I shall be quite out of all manner of Shape. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. Ind. II. v. iv. 437 Orders which might be construed all manner of ways. Mod. All kind of drollery.

  4. = Any whatever. In universally exclusive sentences or clauses; as without all (cf. L. sine omni). Now only in such phr. as beyond all question, doubt, controversy, etc., or where the exclusion is expressed by a verb, as to deny, disclaim, renounce, all connexion.

c 1400 Apol. for Loll. 72 If þe kirk, wiþ out oole autorite, solempnize matrimoyn forbidun of þe general kirk. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iv. ix. 472 Nile ȝe swere alwise. 1587 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) I. 315 Such of the people as..fell into their hands, were slaine without all mercie. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. ii. 11 Things without all remedie, Should be without regard. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 75 The Carthaginians enjoyed the command of the Sea without all Controversie. 1847 Longfellow Ev. i. iii. 10 Without all guile or Suspicion..was he. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 382 He disclaimed all intention of attacking the memory of Lord Russell.

  II. absol.
  5. As antecedent to relative: All that, all those, the accompanying demonstrative having been dropped from the earliest times before the relative that (what obs., cf. Ger. alles was), which latter is now often dropped also: ‘all we have’ = all that that we have.

827 O.E. Chron., Al þæt be suþan Humbre wæs. 874 Ibid., On allum þam þe him læstan woldon. c 1320 Cast. Loue 535 Ichulle al don þat þi wille is. 1587 Golding De Mornay i. 8 Yee Rivers, and all that euer is. 1607 Shakes. Timon iv. ii. 35 To haue his pompe, and all what state compounds. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 569 To tell thee all What thou commandst. 1690 Locke Hum. Underst. Wks. 1727 I. i. iv. §11. 25 This is all could be infer'd from the Notion of a God. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 43 To derive all we possess as an inheritance from our forefathers. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xxiii. 17 And all we met was fair and good, And all was good that Time could bring.

  6. Followed by of: in sing. The entire amount, every part, the whole; in pl. Every individual, all the members or examples. (This const. is comparatively modern, and is probably due to form-assoc. with none of, some of, little of, much of, few of, many of.) Rare, exc. with pronouns, as all of it, of whom, of which, of them. Also, as much as, altogether, quite; for all of (cf. for prep. 26 b) U.S., as far as concerns (a person or thing).
  [See pronominal examples under 2 c.]

c 1800 Montgomery Hymn, 'Tis not the whole of life to live, Nor all of death to die. 1858 Sears Athan. x. 81 The Sadducees held that all of human existence was bounded between birth and death. 1903 T. B. Aldrich Ponkapog Papers (1904) 169 All of Herrick's geese were swans. 1932 J. H. Frederick Devel. Amer. Commerce vii. 77 There were insufficient American vessels to handle all of the traffic.

1829 R. C. Sands Writings (1834) II. 57 Miss Cross, who was all of six feet high. 1854 M. J. Holmes Tempest & Sunshine xix. 124 No;—he may have her and go to the old boy for all of Josh. 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life on Miss. xviii. 220 It must have been all of fifteen minutes..of dull, homesick silence. 1911 H. S. Harrison Queed xvii. 209 Thus they parted, almost precipitately, and, for all of him, might never have met again in this world. 1944 ‘G. Graham’ Earth & High Heaven i. iii. 65 He was all of thirty-three, solitary and unsure of himself.

  7. a. as pl. = All men, all people.

c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark xiii. 37 Soðlice þæt ic eow secᵹe, eallum [Lindisf., Rushw. allum, Hatt. eallen] ic hit secᵹe. 1382 Wyclif Eph. iv. 6 O God, and fadir of alle, the which is aboue alle men, and by alle thingis, and in vs alle. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. ii. 160 Some poyson'd by their Wiues, some sleeping kill'd, All murther'd. 1611 Bible 1 Tim. iv. 15 That thy profiting may appeare to all. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 122 ¶2 Beloved and esteemed by all about him. 1878 Birm. Weekly Post 2 Feb., An inn in Marlborough has the sign ‘The Five Alls.’ They are—a king, with the motto, ‘I govern all;’ a bishop, with ‘I pray for all;’ a lawyer, ‘I plead for all;’ a soldier, ‘I fight for all;’ a labourer, ‘I pay for all.’

  b. In scoring at games, denoting that both sides have made the stated score; e.g. love all = neither side has scored.

1742 Hoyle Short Treatise Whist xi. 25 Suppose the Game to be Nine all. 1837 T. Bacon First Impr. fr. Nat. in Hindostan I. 252 In the fourth 20, they were even; 67 all. 1878 Laws of Lawn-Tennis 12 If both players win five games, the score is called games-all. 1883 Nat. Hist. Jrnl. & School Reporter VII. 155 Up to within ten minutes when time was called the score was one goal all. 1898 Love all [see love n. 10 b]. 1965 Listener 17 June 915/2 Game all. Dealer West.

  8. a. as sing. = Everything.

c 1000 ælfric Saints' L. i. 139 God is æᵹhwǽr eall. 1470 Malory Arthur (1816) I. 303 But in God is all. 1589 Pap w. Hatch. (1844) 21 Alls as it is taken; marie the diuell take al. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 105 What though the field be lost? All is not lost. 1785 Crabbe Newsp. 235 Something to all men, and to some men all. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 211 Browning..draws nearer to the all-for-point fashion of the concettisti, with every poem he writes. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. i. 10, ‘I wanted to see yer face, sir, that was all.’

  b. all but: Everything short of. Hence (adverbially) Almost, very nearly, well nigh, (also with hyphen) used adj., almost complete or entire; in ellipt. use: almost; also as n.

1598 J. Bastard in Farr S.P. II. 306 Man..All but resembleth God, all but his glasse, All but the picture of his maiestie. a 1678 Marvell Poems Wks. III. 412 Society is all but rude To this delicious solitude. 1810 M. L. Weems Let. in Wks. (1929) III. 14 Doctor Fendall..sold 60 doll[ar]s all but. 1816 Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire (1818) i. 18 Negro washerwomen, whose state of all but nudity. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. ii. 111 The all-but omnipotence of early culture. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. v. 87 These were all but unknown to Greeks and Romans. 1866 Pusey Mirac. Prayer 12 An all-but-infinite variety of phænomena. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 203 The best and all-but-sufficing answer. 1881 Gilbert Patience 11 Col. (apologetically). I'm afraid we're not quite right. Ang. Not supremely, perhaps, but, oh, so all-but! Oh, Saphir, are they not quite too all-but? 1914 ‘I. Hay’ Knight on Wheels xix. 192 Most of them are Impossibles, but there are a good many All-Buts. 1920 ‘W. S. Palmer’ Christianity & Christ 43 Until the great all-but-men brought forth true men. 1935 W. Empson Poems 3 Our all-but freedom.

  c. and all: And everything else, and everything connected therewith, et cetera; hence , Too, also, as well (especially in dial. speech; Sc. ‘Woo'd an' married an' a'’). and all that: and all the rest of it, et cetera.

c 1535 Tindale Wks. 1849 II. 11 He will save Devils and all. 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 1007 The wolle, skynne, flesh and all. c 1540 Croke Ps. li, The walles, and all, shalbe made newe. 1662 More Antid. Ath. iii. x. (1712) 120 Down came John, Pipe and all. 1681 Trial S. Colledge 29 Jeff. Who were the All? Dugdale. King and Clergy-men and all. 1702 De Foe New Test. in Somers Tracts (1751) III. 14 They did it to Purpose, carried all before them, subdued Monarchy, cut of their King's Head, and all that. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth I. 37 With smithy, bellows, tongs, anvil, and all. 1857 Helps Friends in C. Ser. i. I. 122 ‘Region of subtle sympathies,’ and all that.

  d. all in all: All things in all respects, all things altogether in one. Also adverbially and subst. (See in all below, 9 d.)

1539 Cranmer 1 Cor. xv. 28 That God maye be all in all. [So 1611; Wyclif, alle thingis in alle thingis, Tindale, all in all thinges.] 1596 R. Carew in Shaks. Cent. Praise 20 Will you have all in all for Prose and verse? 1767 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. I. i. 27 Mirth and diversion are all in all. a 1824 Campbell On receiv. Seal xii, The all-in-all of life—Content! 1824 Byron Juan ii. clxxxix, They were All in all to each other. 1859 Tennyson Vivien 248 And trust me not at all or all in all. 1878 ― Q. Mary iii. vi. 136 Their Flemish go-between And all-in-all.

  e. phr. when all comes (goes) to all: when everything is summed up, wound up, cleared up, explained; when one gets to the bottom of everything. arch.

1519 W. Horman Vulg. 123 Whan it cometh all to all. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 1732 For your sake, what so ever befall; I set not a flye, and all go to all. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 141 When all came to all nothing was done. 1668 Pepys Diary 19 Aug., When all come to all, a fit of jealousy about Tom.

  f. In phr. after an oath or obscenity, as damn all, nothing at all. Cf. bugger n. 2 e.

1922 Joyce Ulysses 417 Proud possessor of damnall. 1926 D. L. Sayers Clouds of Witness x. 187, I'll tell you my story as shortly as I can, and you'll see I know damn all about it. 1930 Brophy & Partridge Songs & Slang 114 Damn all, nothing. Used to give emphasis... A bowdlerization of a foul expression. 1939 J. Mulgan Man Alone iii. 31 There's ― all grows up here.

  9. Hence, in many prepositional phrases. a. Preceded by above, after, before, beyond, for, = Everything, (or often) everything else, everything to the contrary. Hence, after all: after considering everything to the contrary, nevertheless; once for all: once only; for good and all: finally (see good).

1611 Bible Hebr. x. 10 By the which will we are sanctified..once for all. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 462 ¶1 But after all he is very pleasant Company. 1763 Boswell Johnson (1826) I. 356 Here it is proper, once for all, to give a true and fair statement. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) II. 11, I stopp'd to bid her adieu for good and all. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. vii. xi. (1849) 440 Yet after all he was a mere mortal. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 172 Above all, he had been long an exile.

  b. at all: (a) In every way, in any way. Formerly only affirmatively = altogether, wholly (now only Irish, dial., and U.S. local); now often in negative or interrogative sentences, or conditional clauses: e.g. I did not speak at all; did you speak at all? if you spoke at all.

c 1350 Will. Palerne 283, I þe coniure · & comande att alle. c 1400 Epiph. (Turnb. 1843) 110 Myrre betokneth to us at all Of hys monhode that is mortall. 1513 Douglas Eneis Prol. 34 My waverand wyt, my cunnyng febill at all. 1535 Coverdale Jer. vi. 14 Sayenge: peace, peace, when there is no peace at all. 1552–5 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 52 They were careless at all, they thought all things were cock⁓sure. 1611 Bible 1 Sam. xx. 6 If thy father at all misse me. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 557 If he refuses to govern us at all, we are not bound to remain..without a government. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 185 Without any form of trial at all. Ibid. IV. xvii. 55 For that very cause, it soon ceased to be a garrison at all. 1894 Caine Manxman II. 56 Is the woman mad at all? 1895 J. Barlow Strangers at Lisconnel 262 And what at all have you got there? 1916, 1932 in H. Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict. (1944) 34/2. 1945 Amer. Speech XX. 15 This affirmative use, although it has disappeared from speech at the formal level, lives on in Irish dialect and in colloquial speech in certain parts of America, especially after a superlative, as in the sentence ‘We had the best time at all’.

  † (b) substantively. Obs.

1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. II. 3 He is so self-sufficient, and an At-all of so many capacities.

  c. for all, adv. and prep., Notwithstanding: see for.

a 1400 Kyng of Tars 1134 [He] smot him so fer al his scheld. 1526 Tindale Acts xvi. 39 They have beaten us openley..for all that we are Romans. 1611 Bible John xxi. 11 For all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. 1741 Richardson Pamela I. 28 Sit still, Pamela, and mind your Work, for all me. Ibid. IV. 178 A sad Situation I am in..for all that. 1795 Burns, ‘A man's a man for a' that.’

  d. in all: In the whole number, all together; also, in whole.

c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 4387, V. hundred knyȝtis in al þay wore. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. III. 363 He lived in alle þre and sixti ȝere. 1611 Bible 1 Chron. ii. 6 Fiue of them in all. 1654 R. Gentilis tr. Servita's Hist. Inquis. (1676) 870 It is received either in part or in all, or in part or in all laid aside. 1856 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 33 ‘Work, work, work!’ are the in-all and the end-all of existence to him. 1882 Mar. Ins. Policy, All and every other Person or Persons to whom the same doth, may, or shall appertain, in Part, or in All.

  † e. mid all (obs.), with all: † (a) Altogether, quite (obs.); (b) see withal.

c 885 K. ælfred Gregory xix. 144 Ða hie swiðe stiðliche arasiað, & mid ealle ofðrysceað. c 1175 Lamb. Hom., Mid alle fordon. c 1230 Ancr. R. 100 A grim word mid alle. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xxi. 27 Loove Laverd þai sal with al. 1297 R. Glouc. 28 He lette close fuyr in metal quoynteliche withalle.

  f. of all, from its use after a superlative, as in first of all (see D. II) was formerly used elliptically = Most of all, beyond all.

1590 Marlowe Edw. II, iv. v, Vild wretch, and why hast thou, of all unkind, Borne arms against thy brother. 1605 Andrewes Serm. (1841) II. 158 From each part;—but of all, from the last part. 1649 Lovelace Poems 30 She Whom thou of all ador'st. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 135 ¶4 First of all by its abounding in monosyllables.

  † g. over all: Everywhere (Ger. überall, Fr. partout). Obs.

1297 R. Glouc. 375 Tresour aboute & oþer god oueral apertelyche. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 549 Over al there he cam.

  h. with all: see e (above) and withal.
  III. Combined with other adjectives.
  † 10. Emphasized by whole: all whole, whole all (see allwhole), all and whole, entire; advb. entirely. Obs.

c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. viii. 39 These ij officis maken the hool al werk. Ibid. i. ii. 11 It upon which the al hool substaunce of the wal..stondith. Ibid. ii. vii. 177 It is open ynouȝ to alle hem whiche wolen biholde al the hool proces..But according to the hool al processe. 1579 W. Fulke Heskins's Parl. 154 All the whole vpper house is manifestly contrarie vnto it. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) I. 402 The lower sort of these trees the floud couereth all and whole.

  † 11. all both, all two. Obs. (Fr. tous les deux.)

c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 892 Þey weron as bleynd all bothe, y wys, as ever was ony stok or stoune.

  12. Distributed to each member or part of the whole, by the forms all and some (arch.), one and all, each and all, all and each, all and sundry, etc. a. Of these all and some (see some) has the longest history.

c 1325 Cœur de L. 5846 They that wolde nought Crystene become, Richard leet sleen hem alle and some. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1329 These lordes alle and some Been in the Sonday to the cité come. 1460 Play Sacr. 402 Whyle they were alle together & sum..Comedite corpus meum. 1600 Holland Livy xxvii. xiii. 637 e, To endeavour and strain themselves, both all and some [singulis universisque]. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. ii. 457 Now stop your noses, readers all and some. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 478 Two hours after midnight all and some Into the hall to wait his word should come.

  ¶ It has been suggested that in this phrase some was a corruption of isame (isome) ‘together,’ but the phonology shows that it is not so; with the first quot. above cf. this from the same poem:

c 1325 Cœur de L. 4385 Among the toun folk was no game; To counsayl they gaderyd hem insame.

  † b. al and som (some) was also used in sing., as if confused with sum; = The whole sum, the sum total; advb. entirely. Obs.

1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 169 Þe tale ys wrytyn al and sum In a boke of Vitas Patrum. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3014 He shridde him þer-with..& cloþed him al & some. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's T. Prol. 91 This is all and som [v.r. sum, some, somme]. c 1480 Childe of Bristowe 338 in Hazl. E.P.P. 123 By that the fourtenyht was come, his gold was gon, al and some. 1520–41 Wyatt Wks. (1861) 173 Henceforth, my Poins, this shall be all and sum. 1625 tr. Gonsalvio's Sp. Inquis. Pref., Herein resteth all and some concerning these matters.

  c. one and all, all and each, each and all, all and sundry, all and every.

1513 Douglas æneis ix. viii. 16 With huge clamoure followand ane and all. 1782 Cowper J. Gilpin 239 And all and each that passed that way Did join in the pursuit. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxvi, All and sundry his moveable goods and gear..inbrought to his Majesty's use. 1837 J. Lang New S. Wales I. 185 Rendering it virtually imperative on all and sundry to follow his example.

  B. n. (through the absolute use in A 8.)
  1. Usually with poss. pron., as our all: Everything that we have, or that concerns or pertains to us; whole interest, concern, possession, property.

1627 Feltham Resolves Wks. 1677, i. xxxi. 55 He shall not command the All of an honest man. 1681 Nevile Plato Rediv. 235 Those matters..which concern our All. 1707 Addison State of War 242 Our All is at stake. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. viii. 157 When two persons throw their all into one stock as joint-traders for life. 1794 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 221 We are, as I think, fighting for our all. 1862 Trench Mirac. iii. 143 Whatever it was, it was their all.

  b. In this sense it has been used with a pl.

1721 S. Centlivre Perpl. Lovers i. 267 I'd pluck up a courage, pack up my Awls and match with him. 1752 Fielding Amelia vii. iii. (1775) 296 [My father] bid me pack up my alls and immediately prepare to quit his house. 1763 Bickerstaff Love in Vill. 44 So pack up your alls, and be trudging away. [Still a common phrase in Scotland.]

  c. Antithetically, with little.

1631 Quarles Sampson (1717) 280 That little All Was left, was all corrupt. 1738 Johnson London 189 [You] leave your little all to flames a prey. 1738 Wesley Hymn, ‘Long have I viewed’, My little All I give to Thee. 1755 Johnson Boswell (1826) I. 226 No man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little. Mod. Many a struggling tradesman lost his little all in the fire.

  2. Whole being, entirety, totality.

1674 Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 145 The laws of motion, in the round All of bodies. 1761 Law Comf. Weary Pilgr. (1809) 86 This pure love introduces the creature into the all of God. 1843 Carlyle Past. & Pr. 169 An All of rotten Formulas.

  3. Whole system of things, τὸ πᾶν, the Universe.

1598 J. Bastard in Farr S.P. II. 316 Man is the little world (so we him call), The world the little god, God the Great All. 1612 Wither Prince Henry's Obs. in Juven. (1633) 298 Living in any corner of this All. 1649 Drummond Wks. 1711, 25 Come see that King, which all this all commands. 1714 Mandeville Fab. Bees (1733) II. 21 The beautiful all, must be the workmanship of one great architect of power and wisdom stupendious. 1839 Bailey Festus xxviii. (1848) 329 The atom and the all Commune and know each other. 1850 Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. vi. (1872) 200 No pin's point can you mark within the wide circle of the All where God's Laws are not.

  C. adv. I. General construction.
  1. All adj. is often separated from the n. which it defines, by an auxiliary vb. or clause, and so appears to refer to the predicate; as ‘Zion our mother is all wofull,’ where all, originally an attribute or complement of Zion, comes to be viewed as qualifying woful = altogether woful.

a 1000 Cædmon Gen. (Grein) 756 Hit is Adame nu eall forgolden. c 1200 Ormin 9579 Issraæle þeod tatt wass All wesste & all forrworrpenn. c 1220 Hali Meid. 21 Ah al is meidenes song unlich þeose. 1382 Wyclif Prov. xii. 3 The roote of riȝtwis men shal not ben al moued. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour C vij, The lady wente oute of her wytte and was al demonyak. 1533 More Answ. Poysoned Bk. Wks. 1557, 1056/1 His exposicion flitteth all fro the poynte. 1611 Bible Nah. iii. 1 Woe to the bloody City, it is all full of lyes and robberie. 1814 Byron Corsair iii. xv. 18, I am not all deserted on the main. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vii. v. 405 His Royal Highness all smiles, and his Consort all diamonds. 1850 Lynch Theoph. Trinal xi. 224 Another is all frivolity. 1879 Tennyson Lover's T. 59 Six stately virgins, all in white.

  2. Whence, as true adv. modifying adj. or adv.: Wholly, completely, altogether, quite (cf. all- E. 6, 7).

a 1000 Crist (Grein) 1221 Eall æfter rihte. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 191 Þurch onde com deað in to þe worelde al umbegonge. 1340 Ayenb. 89 Nou ich þe habbe al uolliche ysseaued þet ich leue. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 392 All othir contenance had he. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. vi. 29 Hyr chyld-ill al suddanly Travalyd hyr sa angrily. 1541 Elyot Image Govt. 33 But it succeeded all other wise. 1693 Mem. Count Teckely i. 57 They endeavour all anew to put those..in a state uncapable. 1793 Southey Triumph of Wom. 63 Wks. II. 7 All hopelessly our years of sorrow flow. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 480 All at once..the whole fleet tacked. 1880 Browning Clive 28 All-agog to have me trespass.

  † b. In this sense all thing was also used. (Cf. ‘nothing loath.’) Obs.

1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. Wks. 1557, 1217/1, I am not all thinge afearde in this case. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. i. 14 It had bene as a gap in our great Feast, And all-thing vnbecomming. 1665 Ray Flora 189 The flowers are not all-thing so broad.

  c. In idiomatic hyperbolic use, esp. in phr. to go all ―.

1932 S. Gibbons Cold Comf. Farm v. 71 She will..go all arty-and-crafty. 1934 A. Huxley Beyond Mexique Bay 254 We will assume that the Indians have gone all hygienic. What are the results? 1935 Punch 16 Oct. 448/2 If Mr. Morley does go all Rider Haggard for a few pages towards the end of the book the circumstance is scarcely to be deplored. 1947 M. Gilbert Close Quarters iii. 50, ‘I have questioned Canon Beech-Thompson,’ replied Pollock shortly. ‘And got an imperial raspberry?’ said Halliday... ‘I suppose he went all Crockford at once.’

  3. Even, just; passing into a mere intensive or emphasizing adjunct. (Cf. also.) arch.

1579 W. Fulke Heskins's Parl. 195 Al bicause he would not acknowledge the presence of Christ. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. v. lxviii, All so, who strives..To bring his dead soul to the joyfull skie. 1720 Gay Blackeyed Susan, All in the Downs the fleet was moored. 1808 Scott Marm. i. xi, He..Gave them a chain of twelve marks' weight All as he lighted down.

  4. All through, wholly, entirely, without admixture.

1705 Lond. Gaz. mmmmclix/4 Stolen..a black Gelding..trots all, except forced, and then paces a little. Ibid. mmmmclv/4 Trots and gallops all. Ibid. mmmmclxxviii/4 Paces all.

  II. Special constructions.
  5. all one. † a. All together. Obs. b. (also all a.) One and the same, quite the same. all of a: see a adj.² 3. (See also alone.)

1205 Layam. 29080 Þa weoren heo al an. c 1380 Wyclif Wicket 5 It is..all one to denye Christes wordes for heresye and Christe for an heretyke. 1581 Marbeck Bk. Notes 935 It is all one water whether Symon Peter, or Symon Magus be christened in it. 1691 Ray Acc. Errors in Coll. E.W. 154 As for the vulgar and illiterate it is all one to them. 1702 Eng. Theophr. 138 That which a man causes to be done, he does himself, and 'tis all a case. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1858) 373 It was all one, he could not sleep. 1768 Blackstone Comm. IV. 20 What persons are, or are not, capable of committing crimes; or, which is all one, who are exempted from the censures of the law. 1829 Scott Guy M. xxxvi, ‘It's a' ane to Dandie.’ a 1884 Mod. It's all one to me whether I go or stay. 1930 C. Williams War in Heaven iii. 35, I gather it's all one to you whether we take it or leave it?

  c. all for [for prep. 7 a], entirely in favour of, on the side of. colloq.

1864 A. Trollope Can you forgive Her? xix. 150, I am all for Mr. Cheesacre..I can't abide anything that's poor. 1934 D. L. Sayers Nine Tailors ii. ii. 105, I'm all for a treasure-hunt. 1945 J. B. Priestley Three Men in New Suits iii. 38 ‘You've got to..see that the country's run properly.’ ‘I'm all for that,’ said Herbert.

  6. Pleonastically in the combinations all-whole, all-wholly, all-utterly, q.v. (See also A 10.)
  7. With adverbs of degree, all gives emphasis, = Quite, altogether, as all so, all too. (All so is now obs., exc. in the combined form also q.v.)

a 1000 ælfred's Death (Grein) 13 Eal swá ᵹebundenne. c 1200 Moral Ode 328 Of þesse riche we þencheð to ofte, of þare alto selde. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 288 Dido..That loued alto sone a gest. 1587 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1806) II. 175 The King..did send forth, but all too late, Andrew Wood. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. ii. 24 Our argument Is all too heavy to admit much talke. 1805 Southey Madoc in Az. xvii. Wks. V. 322 Give me the boy..he travels all too slow. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. (1858) 182 Thy all-too Irish mirth and madness. 1840 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) V. 191 War is all soon enough when it cannot be helped. 1921 Joyce Lett. (1957) 160 The last word (human all-too-human) is left to Penelope. 1932 D. Gascoyne Roman Balcony 75 On farms, on all-too-barren fields. 1952 Auden Nones 23 Far from tall Restituta's all-too-watchful eye.

  8. With adv. the: By that amount, to that extent, just so much.

1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. ii. 102 All the better: we shalbe the more Marketable. 1879 Tennyson Lover's T. 82 He was all the more resolv'd to go.

  9. With adverbs of place: In all directions, in every part; as all about, all round. Special idioms are all along (see along), all out, all over, all round, all together or altogether, all one or alone q.v.

c 1300 Beket 2253 And crope ek as emeten alaboute. Ibid. 820 Seint Thomas was albenethe. 1480 Caxton Descr. Brit. 4 Britayne is all aboute xlviii sithe lxx thousand paas. 1699 Bentley Phalaris 130 He is all-over mistaken. 1879 Tennyson Lover's T. 75 Beheld All round about him.

  10. With conjunctions. † a. With if and though in if all, though all, all emphasized the supposition or concession, = Even if, even though. Thus: if all they keep = if wholly or really they keep, even if they do keep. Obs.

c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 37 Þof alle Edgar þe gate, Estrild þi moder ware. 1366 Mandeville ii. 13 Ȝif alle it be so, that Men seyn. c 1375 Wyclif Antecrist 145 If al þei kepen neiþer.

  † b. The more common order was all if, all though; the former is now obs., the latter written as one word although q.v.

1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3045 Þe saul, al-if it haf na body. c 1380 Wyclif 3 Treat. 17 Al ȝif thei shulen aftir be dampnyd. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplandyshm. 41 All if I would, it were but shame. 1557 ― Jugurtha (Paynell) A ij, All if he haue power so to do.

  † c. With the subj. mood, though or if, being expressed by the reversed position of vb. and subject (as in be they = if they be), were omitted, leaving all apparently = although. Thus: al be I = all though I be. Obs. exc. in synthetic phrases albeit, albe q.v.

c 1365 Chaucer A.B.C. 46 Al have I ben a beste in witte and dede, Yet, Lady! thou me close in with thyn grace. c 1384 ― H. Fame 1820 Al be ther in me no Iustice Me lyst not doo hyt nowe. c 1386 ― Prol. 736 Al speke he never so rudely, ne large. 1532 More Conf. Tindale Wks. 1557, 385/2 All were he neuer so olde eare he were baptysed. 1560 H. Cole Lett. to Jewel, We brought more than ye were able to answer, all were it no Scriptures, nor Councels, nor Doctours. 1599 Bp. Hall Satires iii. i. 50 All could he further then earths center go. 1659 Fuller App. Inj. Innoc. (1840) 532 From whence came Smith, albe he knight or squire, But from the smith that forgeth at the fire.

  11. With prep. of extension in space or time, all gives completeness, as all round, down, over, through, etc.

1622 Middleton etc. Old Laws v. i, That's equal change all the world over. 1795 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. II. 11 The wind all round the compass. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 455 All down the Rhine, from Carlsruhe to Cologne. 1875 Higginson Hist. U.S. xxvi. 264 This made a great excitement all over the country.

  † 12. With prep. referring to a point of space: Quite, entirely. all to naught, to absolute nothingness, ‘away to nothing.’ to call all to naught: to vilify. Cf. 15 below. Obs.

c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 35 Þu forwurðest eca..al to nohte. c 1230 Ancr. R. 380 [He] tukeð ham alto wundre. c 1300 Beket 22 The Princes Douȝter..that hire hurte al upe him caste. 1559 Homilies i. (1859) 134 David, when Semei did call him all to naught, did not chide again. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 993 It was not she that call'd him all to naught. a 1617 P. Bayne Ephes. (1658) 102 Hee..doth give his son all to death. 1626 Bacon Sylva §540 The sap is not so frank as to rise all to the boughs.

  13. With to of the dat. inf.: Expressly, just.

c 1300 Beket 99 Red alto afonge. 1607 Hieron Wks. II. 249 The Spirit of God came..all to shew how these men were inabled of God.

  † 14. all emphasized the particle combined with a vb.:

c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 76 Al bismotered with his habergeon.

  b. Especially with the prefix to- = ‘asunder’ (LG. ter-, HG. zer-, L. dis), as in to-break, to-burst, to-cut, to-gnaw, to-hew, to-rend, to-rive, to-shake, to-shiver, to-tear, to-tread, to-wend. Thus all to-broken, (G. all zerbrochen) ‘quite broken in pieces.’ As these derivative vbs. were at length rarely used without all, the fact that the to- belonged to the vb. was lost sight of, and it was written separate, or even joined to all, as al to-torn, al to torn, alto torn. Obs.

a 1000 Gregory's Dial. iii. xvi. (Cott. MS. 77 b) Þæt he sceolde beon eal to sliten from ðam clifstanum. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 113 Ure helende..alto shiurede þe ȝiaten. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 4853 That he tak he alto rof. c 1400 Sege off Melayne 262 Riche hawberkes were all to-rent. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. i. 484 That her ordre schulde be alto broke. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 236/1 They..were alle to cutte with the stones. 1493 W. de Worde Communyc. (1535) B iij, With thy tongue thou me all to terest. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1991/1 Which the Scots in times past haue all to broken. 1611 Bible Judg. ix. 53 And a certaine woman cast a piece of a milstone vpon Abimelechs head, and all to brake his scull. 1637 Milton Comus 380 Her wings..Were altoruffled, and sometimes impaired.

  † 15. Hence, by form-assoc., all to, allto, alto was extended to other verbs as = ‘wholly, completely, utterly, soundly’; in later times esp. with vbs. in be-; as all-to-befool, all-to-begod, all-to-beblubber, all-to-benight. Obs.

1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. Wks. 1557, 1224/1 She fel in hand with hym and all to rated him. 1538 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 398 We be fallen into the dirt, and be all-to dirtied, even up to the ears. 1549 Chaloner tr. Erasm. Moriæ Enc. D iij b, Beyng all to laught to scorne. 1551–76 Grindal Fruitf. Dial. Wks. 1843, 48 To kneel and crouch down and all-to be-god him. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 69 Her cheekes all to be blubbered with her jealous teares. 1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commonw. 141 And so al to be⁓sprinkleth..the image gods. 1611 Cotgr., Papilloteux, All-to-bespangled..set thicke with spangles. 1647 I. C. Char. Lond.-Diurn. 3, I wonder my Lord..is not once more all-to-be-traytor'd. 1674 Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 53 The wide, thick, all-to-be deckt heap of visible beings. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Le Lutrin i. 314 Him too the bounteous Dean All-to-be-Blesses. 1684 Bunyan Pilg. ii. 48 She all-to-be-fooled me.

  D. Obsolete uses of early inflected forms.
  (The inflexions were: sing. acc. masc. 1–2 alne, 2–3 alle, dat. masc. and neut. 1 allum, 2–3 -en, 2–4 -e; dat. and gen. fem. 1–3 alre, 2–4 alle; gen. masc. and neut. 1–3 alles. pl. nom. and acc. 1–5 alle; dat. 1 allum, 2–4 -en, 2–5 -e; gen. 1–2 alra, 2–4 -re, 3–4 aldre, 3–6 aller, alder, alþer, alther, also passim, alir, aldir, -yr, althir; alleris, altheris, etc. These survived longest in the south, none being retained by northern dial. after 13th c. exc. gen. pl. In midl. dial. all sing. and alle pl. were still distinguished by Wyclif and Chaucer.) † I. The gen. sing. alles was used adverbially: Altogether, at all, wholly, entirely. (Fr. du tout.)

a 1100 O.E. Chron. an. 1018 Þæt gafol..wæs ealles lxxii þusend punda. 1205 Layam. 3077 Þa hit alles up brac. c 1230 Ancr. R. 88 Hwon hit alles cumeð forð. 1297 R. Glouc. 17 Corineus was alles wroþ. c 1320 Cast. Loue 659 Whon he wolde alles bicome man.

  II. The gen. pl. alra, alre, aller, alder, alther, ‘of all’ was used down to 1600.
  † 2. With n. a. governed by n. (To 1200.)

a 1000 Cynewulf Elene (Grein) 816 Allra cyninga þrym. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 33 He is alra kinge king. Ibid. 217 Heo is ælra þinga angin.

  b. governed by superlative. (To 1300.)

a 1000 Scópes W{iacu}dsið 15 Ealra ricost monna cynnes. c 1200 Moral Ode 351 Þer is alre meruþe mest. 1297 R. Glouc. 135 Þat ys aller mon worst, þat me euer sey with ye.

  † 3. absol. with a superlative, orig. either before or after; subseq. always prefixed, and becoming at length a mere intensifying prefix. Prefixed to any superlative, as aller-best ‘best of all,’ aller-blivest, -erst, -farthest, -fairest, -feeblest, -first, -foulest, -highest, -last, -least, -liefest, -longest, -most, -next, -truest, -worst, etc.; of which alderliefest ‘dearest of all, very dear,’ was a common epithet in 16th c.

a 1000 Metr. Ps. cviii. 28 Him si abroᵹden hiora sylfra sceamu swyðust ealra. a 1000 Cædmon Gen. (Grein) 337 Ofermetto ealra swiðost. 1154 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1135 Alre fyrst Balduin de Reduers. 1297 R. Glouc. 44 Grete townes in Engelond..And London aller most. a 1300 Cursor M. 7391 Quar es þin alþer-yongest son? c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 576 Myn alderlevest lady deere, So wommanly. Ibid. iii. 240 My altherlevest lord, and brothir dere. 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. ix. 10 Altherbest is thi word; com, go we. a 1400 Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867) 31 He es alþir-myghtyeste, althirwyseste, and alswa althire-beste. 1481 Caxton Myrrour i. xiii. 42 God created nature alther⁓first. 1502 Arnold Chron. (1811) 43 Our alther lieuest uncles. 1587 Gascoigne Wks. 163 To mine Alderlieuest Lord I must indite a wofull case. 1590 T. Watson Egl., Walsingham 386 Thou, Spencer, art the alderliefest swaine. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, i. i. 28 Mine Alder liefest Soueraigne.

  † b. In later times when the nature of alther was forgotten, it was erroneously written all there.

a 1450 Syr Gowghter 172 Huntyng he loved al there best. c 1500 Partenay 2490 Ywon all ther first ther he edified. 1513 Douglas æneis v. ix. 21 All thare last The antiant kyng Acestes. 1537 Lyndesay Q. Magd. 150 The greit Maister of houshold all thare last.

  † c. Ignorance of the true meaning, with consciousness of its intensifying force, produced many remarkable constructions.

c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3997 On ilc alter fier alðerneðer. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. (W.) 2298 On alder twenti devel wai. c 1330 Florice & Bl. 27 In the althrest fairest sete. c 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. v, For there was one thyng closed in her hert An alderother in her chere declared. 1630 Tinck. Turvey 56 An alder leefer swaine, I weene, In the barge there was not seene.

  † 4. In concord with a pron. pl. possessive: our, your, their aller; where modern language has of us all, belonging to them all, etc. (Cf. L. omnium nostrum parens.) Later northern writers, to whom the -er had no longer a genitive force, added a second possessive ending, making alleris, alders, althers. (Cf. our-s, their-s, both-er(s.)

c 1230 Ancr. R. 52 Eue vre alre moder. Ibid. 94 Hore alre crune. a 1300 Cursor M. 469 For þare aller right. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 162 Þat I be ȝour aller broþer. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 205 Adam was oure aller fader. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2884 By-for hure alre siȝt. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 823 Vp roos oure hoost and was oure aller cok [v.r. alþer, alder]. 1401 Pol. Poems II. 65 Crist, our aller duke. a 1423 James I King's Q. iii. xl, I will that Gud-hope..be, Ȝoure alleris frende. c 1430 Syr Gener. 5244 The gates thei shet bi here althers consent. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. 144 The Harmes..ben now by hym turnyd into our aller Good. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. i. 40, I sall reuenge and end our alleris offence.

  E. all- in comb.
  Combinations with all- as first element have existed from the earliest times, and have become, since c 1600, unlimited in number. In some groups the combination is merely syntactic, though even there individual instances of long standing have become true compounds; cf. the gradation in all alive, all-important, all-powerful, almighty. The stress is not on all except in a few real compounds as ˈalways, ˈalso. On these combinations as well as on simple phrases, derivatives are freely formed in which the loose union or non-union of the original elements is cemented by the formative process, so that all is no longer merely in syntactic combination with the rest of the word; thus all-pervadingness, all-eyed, cannot be analysed as all + pervadingness, all + eyed, but only as (all-pervading) + -ness, (all eyes) + -ed. The following general classification contains I. Simple combinations; II. Derivatives formed on these, and on phrases. Words in small capitals are treated in their alphabetical place in the sequel. I. Simple combinations.
  1. adj. with n., as all-fours, -hail, -hallows, -might, -night, -saints, -souls, -spice (and their derivatives); all-power, omnipotence; all-wisdom.

c 1680 J. Pordage Myst. Divin. 55 The Power of all Powers, yea All-power it self. 1827 Edin. Rev. XLVI. 320 Here it has assumed..a sort of all-wisdom.

  2. adj. with adv. (formerly an oblique case of n. or pron.), as algate, always, allwhere, -whither.
  3. subst. (gen.) with n. = ‘of all, universal,’ as all-father; all-monarch, all-parent, all-soul; esp. as obj. gen. with verbal agents, when there is an accompanying ppl. form in -ing (see 7), as all-commander (cf. all-commanding), all-creator, all-destroyer, all-encompasser, all-giver, all-knower, all-maker, all-seer, all-sustainer, etc.

1594 Shakes. Rich. III, v. i. 20 That high All-seer, which I dallied with. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. (1641) 21/2 The All-Monarch's bounteous Majesty. Ibid. 24/2 Th' eternall All-Creator. 1613 R. Zouche Dove in Farr S.P. 320 To this All-maker's prayses sing. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. i. i, That mischievous all-commander of the Earth. 1795 T. Taylor Met. Apul. (1822) 184 The all-powerful and all-parent Syrian goddess. 1850 Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound I. 163 Zeus, the all-giver. 1870 Bryant Homer II. xiii. 13 Saturn's son, The all-disposer. 1870 H. Macmillan Bible Teach. i. 26 The invisible shrine of the All-encompasser,—the All-sustainer. 1879 Whitney Sanskr. Gram. Introd. 20 The emancipation of the soul, and its unification with the All-soul. 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. x. 362 These declarations on Kant's part of the utter barrenness of the consciousness of the pure self, and of the consequent impossibility of any deductive or ‘rational’ psychology, are what, more than anything else, earned for him the title of the ‘all-destroyer’. 1902 ― Var. Relig. Exper. vi. 138 Only by an All-knower can we finally be judged. 1909 ― Pluralistic Universe iii. 126 Again, the absolute is always represented idealistically, as the all-knower.

  4. subst. (obj.) with v. inf., as all-heal; all-hold, that which holds all.

1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de Worde) i. xxxiv. 73/1 Settynge of mete or of drynke by nyght on the benche, for to fede All holde, or gobelyn.

  5. advb. with n., as all-bone; all-heart (i.e. wholly heart), a name of the elm tree; all-sayer. And in attrib. phrases such as all-rail, wholly by rail, all-slavery, all-talk, wholly, altogether (given to) talk. In attrib. phrases: made wholly of (a substance), as all-aluminium, all-metal, all-steel, all-wool (also fig.); containing or consisting of something exclusively, as all-fire, all-freight (hence all-freighter), all-grass, all-male, all-star [star n.¹ 5]; all-sea, cf. all-rail. (Cf. also IV below.).

1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest 41 b, The Elme..is called of some All heart. 1624 Bargrave Serm. 21 Our Saviour..found some all-sayers and no-doers, so others that would outdoe all faith. 1833 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) II. 479 The ‘all slavery’ party in England,—who wherever two or three were gathered together to oppress, were there in the midst of them. 1863 W. Phillips Speeches iii. 50 The all-talk party. 1879 Lumberman's Gaz. 3 Dec., The first all-rail shipment of lumber. 1882 Daily News 4 Mar., The demand is most apparent in all-wool dress goods. 1868 Chambers's Encycl. X. 268/1 Many of the names used in the all-wool class are retained in this, with the addition of the word ‘union’, as union merino. 1876 G. M. Hopkins Wr. Deutschland (1918) st. 23 To bathe in his fall-gold mercies, to breathe in his all-fire glances. 1889 Daily Even. Bulletin (San Francisco) 13 July 1/6 Manager Harris' team is not now so much of an ‘all star aggregation’ now as it was. 1908 A. W. Tilby Eng. People Overseas I. i. 32 It now became evident that the all-sea route was really the safest. 1912 Mrs. P. Campbell Let. to G. B. Shaw (1952) 25 An ‘all star’ show is fit only for Kings and Queens! 1912 W. Raleigh Let. 12 Jun. (1926) II. 379 He..uses only all-wool five-star Romany when he orders a drink. 1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Engl. 89 All-steel houses. 1927 Melody Maker Aug. 785 (Advt.), One of the greatest ‘all-star’ records ever issued. 1930 Engineering 7 Feb. 159/3 A new ambulance aeroplane has recently been delivered... It is an all-metal machine. 1933 Ann. Reg. 1932 ii. 47 One of the most expensive of the year's [cinema] productions was ‘Grand Hotel’, which had a showy all-star cast. 1933 Discovery Oct. 325/2 An all-aluminium train was exhibited for the first time at the Chicago World's Fair this year. 1941 G. Stapledon in H. J. Massingham Engl. & Farmer vii. 148 To the holders of these all-grass farms I would address myself. 1960 Times 14 Nov. 13/6 British companies that fly regular long haul all-freight flights. 1961 Ann. Reg. 1960 429 This play had an all-male cast. 1961 Guardian 24 Jan. 14/1 As an all-freighter in airline use it is unique.

  6. advb. with adj., = ‘wholly, altogether, infinitely.’ About twenty of these combinations are found in OE. including eall-beorht, -ᵹearo, -ᵹeleáflic, -gréne, -gylden, -háliᵹ, -hw{iacu}t, -{iacu}ren, -{iacu}siᵹ, -mihtiᵹ, -nacod, -niwe, -riht, -seolcen, -teaw, -weald, -wérl{iacu}c. Of these all-holy, and al-mighty, survived into ME. and were reinforced from time to time by -witty, -worthy, -wise, -good, -merciful, -just. Since 1600, the number of these has been enormously extended, all- having become a possible prefix, in poetry at least, to almost any adj. of quality. Thus, all-able, all-beauteous, all-bitter, all-black, all-bountiful, all-brilliant, all-complete, all-constant, all-content, all-divine, all-dreadful, all-earnest, all-eloquent, all-essential, all-evil, all-fair, all-glorious, all-golden, all-gracious, all-holy, all-important, all-just, all-lavish, all-lovely, all-merciful, all-peaceful, all-perfect, all-potential, all-powerful, all-praiseworthy, all-prolific, all-puissant, all-pure, all-rapacious, all-righteous, all-sacred, all-substantial, all-surfy, all-true, all-various, all-vast, all-wondrous. Hence as n., all-fair, all-wise. Also with the implication ‘entirely, exclusively’, as all-coloured, all-red (sense 13 below), all-white.

a 1000 ? Cædmon Sat. 522 (Gr.) Englas eall-beorhte. Cynewulf Andreas 799 Eorþan eall-gréne. ælfric Judg. xvi. 16 Ȝebunden mid eallniwum rápum. c 1340 [See all-witty]. c 1375 Wyclif Antecrist 137 Chef bischop & kynges son alworþiest. 1585 Abp. Sandys Serm. (1841) 292 Three Persons and one almighty and all-merciful God. 1586 T. B. tr. La Primaudaye's Fr. Acad. II. 574 He must bee all-good, al⁓just, and almightie. 1600 Tourneur Transf. Metamorph. xii. 78 (1878) 194 Where shall I find a safe all-peacefull seat. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iii. v. 95 Pis. Oh my all-worthy lord. Clo. All-worthy villaine, Discouer where thy Mistris is at once. 1626 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. viii. 166 One who did despise All-able Gods. 1613–30 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. 1711, 46/2 Earth's all-thorny soyl. Ibid. 47 Of the first world an all-substantial man. c 1656 Bp. Hall Invis. World ii. ii, The bliss-making presence of the All-glorious God. 1670 Eachard Contempt Clergy 41 The all-wise patron, or all-understanding justice of the peace. 1692 E. Scarisbrick Life Lady Warner (ed. 2) v. i. 294 Hereby to encrease her confidence in his All-Powerful assistance. 1725 Pope Odyss. xxiii. 303 Such future scenes the all-righteous powers display. 1765 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 503 We judge of the All perfect by ourselves. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. 139 His all-powerful virtue, and celestial fortune. 1785 T. Dwight Conq. Canäan ii. 29 Flowers all-beauteous. 1794 T. Taylor Pausanias I. 304 He employed all-various purifications. 1839 Hallam Hist. Lit. IV. iv. iii. §54. 95 The soul is united to an all-perfect Being. 1839 W. Irving Wolfert's Roost (1855) 63 They [the modern languages] are all-important. 1842 H. E. Manning Serm. (1848) I. xx. 303 Christ..was all-pure. 1847 Emerson Poems 15 This monument of my despair Build I to the All-Good, All-Fair. 1849 Hare Par. Serm. (1849) II. 112 The one living, eternal, all-worthy Sacrifice. 1851 Buckley tr. Homer's Il. 60 She beheld the all-beauteous neck of the goddess. Ibid. 91 His step-mother, all-fair Eëribæa. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 379 Bowed down by fear of the allpowerful Campbells. 1861 W. Gresley Sophr. & Neol. 140 It is of that all-essential and vital character. 1862 Lytton Strange Story II. 258 Is not the Creator omniscient? if all-wise, all-foreseeing? If all-foreseeing, all pre-ordaining? a 1889 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1918) 71 Thundering all-surfy seas. 1899 Daily News 28 Oct. 7/6 An all-white framework of symmetrical petals. 1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 30 The All-wise has tired us of wisdom. 1937 Burlington Mag. Nov. 211/2 The meaning of certain all-important words. 1939 Ibid. Sept. 124/1 Rogier's all-powerful personality. 1940 ‘G. Orwell’ Inside Whale 47 Something resembling the colonial attitude..exists..in all-white communities. 1958 Times 13 Aug. 5/4 Whose last musical, also with an all-coloured cast, was Carmen Jones. 1960 Guardian 21 Mar. 1/4 Negroes arrested after refusing to leave two all-white public libraries, were each released on bail.

  ¶ These are connected with the next by forms in -ent, and -ive, from L. pr. pples. and vbl. adjs., as all-efficient, all-perficient, all-potent, all-prepotent, all-prevalent, all-sufficient; all-comprehensive, all-inclusive, all-miscreative, all-perceptive, all-persuasive, all-pervasive.

1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. ii. (1617) 79 The Testimonies of God are al-sufficient vnto that end for which they were giuen. 1623 Drummond of Hawthornden Cypress Gr. Wks. 1711, 121 The wise and all-provident Creator. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 75 The good will and pleasure of the All-prepotent God. 1675 Baxter Cath. Theol. ii. i. 233 He himself who is God Allsufficient. 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth I. 320 That great all-comprehensive thought. 1711 Shaftesbury Charact. (1737) II. 365 That all-prevalent wisdom which you have establish'd. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 287 Your all-sufficient legislators have forgot one thing that seems essential. 1821 Shelley Prom. Unb. i, The all-miscreative brain of Jove. 1879 Froude Cæsar ii. 17 Moral habits are all-sufficient while they last. 1885 W. James Coll. Ess. & Rev. (1920) 282 Dr. Royce's novel reason for believing that all that is has the foundations of its being laid in an infinite all-inclusive Mind. 1910 ― in Hibbert Jrnl. VIII. 758 There is no complete generalisation,..no all-pervasive unity. 1944 H. A. Hodges W. Dilthey iv. 54 There is no all-inclusive purpose which could constitute the meaning of life. 1965 Engl. Studies Feb. 2 His suspicion is all-inclusive.

  b. (Cf. IV below.) Representative of the whole, as distinguished from part, of an area or country, as all-American (hence as n.), all-Russian.

1888 Outing (U.S.) Nov. 166/2 The All-American team..is composed of men picked from the ranks of the representative ball teams of America. 1920 Ibid. Nov. 84/3 The little cripple, sometime All-American. 1920 B. Russell Pract. & Theory Bolshevism v. 76 The All-Russian Soviet, which is constitutionally the supreme body. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Aug. 469/4 All-American footballer.

  7. advb. with pr. pple. as in prec., but often as the object of the verbal action. With exc. of all-wielding q.v. found already in OE., no examples of this combination occur much before 1600; in modern times their number is unlimited, though many are used only in poetry. Examples: all-absorbing, all-accepting, all-acting, all-affecting, all-afflicting, all-appointing, all-arranging, all-attempting, all-availing, all-bearing, all-beholding, all-bestowing, all-binding, all-blessing, all-canning, all-cheering, all-commanding, all-composing, all-comprehending, all-conceiving, all-concerning, all-confounding, all-conquering, all-consuming, all-containing, all-convincing, all-covering, all-creating, all-daring, all-deciding, all-defying, all-despising, all-destroying, all-devouring, all-dimming, all-disposing, all-embracing, all-encompassing, all-ending, all-enduring, all-energizing, all-enlightening, all-enveloping, all-filling, all-forgetting, all-governing, all-grasping, all-healing, all-hearing, all-heeding, all-including, all-involving, all-judging, all-justifying, all-knowing, all-loving, all-maintaining, all-ordering, all-pervading, all-pitying, all-pondering, all-prevailing, all-preventing, all-protecting, all-providing, all-quickening, all-reaching, all-relieving, all-ruling, all-satiating, all-satisfying, all-saving, all-seeing, all-shaking, all-soothing, all-space-filling, all-subduing, all-sufficing, all-surpassing, all-surrounding, all-sustaining, -swallowing, all-swaying, all-telling, all-tolerating, all-transcending, all-triumphing, all-turning, all-understanding, all-upholding, all-working.

a 1000 Cod. Exon. (Th.) 474 Alwaldend God. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. ii. i. 21 All-telling fame Doth noyse abroad. 1592 ― Rom. & Jul. i. i. 141 The all-cheering sunne. 1594 ― Rich. III, iii. i. 78 To all posteritie, Euen to the generall all ending day. 1599 Marston Sc. Villanie iii. ii. 232 Close his eyes with thy all-dimming hand. Ibid. ii. v. 195 O brawny strength is an all-canning charme. 1603 Patient Grissil 16 When all-commanding love your hearts subdue. 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. ii. 6 All-shaking Thunder. 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 427 It hath pleased the all-disposing God to remooue you. 1610 G. Fletcher Christs Victorie xxiv, He heau'ns al-seeing eye, He earths great Prophet. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. ix. note 152 The Druids inuocation was to one All-healing or All-sauing power. Ibid. vii. note 109 That All-knowing Isaac Casaubon. Ibid. v. note 76 What all-appointing Heauen will. 1623 Drummond of Hawthornden Cypress Gr. Wks. 1711, 124 That all-sufficient and all-sufficing happiness. c 1630 ― Wks. 1711, 31/1 All-acting vertues of those flaming tow'rs. Ibid. 32/2 See, all-beholding King. Ibid. 29/2 Uncreate Beauty, all-creating Love. Ibid. 43/1 The greatest gift, that..The all-governing pow'rs to man can give. Ibid. 30/1 Thy all-upholding might her malice reins. 1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scint. i. (1858) 15 Some drops of thy all-quickning blood. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 591 Second of Satan sprung, all conquering Death. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 99 Motion, which is an all-reaching affection or belonger to each bit of the world. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 376 Our conduct is in view of an all-seeing eye. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. xx. 268 The all-surpassing pleasure that fills the worthy breast. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 1150 All-bearing, all-attempting, till he falls. 1765 Tucker Lt. Nat. I. 596 Offspring of all-protecting Jove. Ibid. 666 The all-space-filling mundane soul. 1768 Boswell Corsica iii. (ed. 2) 164 Looking up to an all-ruling Providence. 1807 J. Barlow Columbiad x. 483 Her cloudless ken, her all pervading soul Illume, sublime and harmonize the whole. 1827 Keble Chr. Year Tues. bef. Easter, Thine all-pervading look. Ibid. Purific., An all-defying, dauntless look. 1834 J. S. Mill in Monthly Repos. VIII. 387 The universal and all-absorbing struggle to be or to appear rich. 1847 J. D. Morell Hist. View Speculative Philos. (ed. 2) I. 15 Researches..so wide and all-embracing in their extent. 1848 A. Brontë Tenant of Wildfell Hall II. xviii. 365, I cannot live here, and be for ever silent on the all-absorbing subject of my thoughts and wishes. 1848 L. Hunt Jar of Honey vii. 92 The all-including genius of Shakspeare. 1848 J. R. Lowell Oak 42 in Poet. Wks. (1873) 76/2 Lord! all thy works are lessons,—each contains Some emblem of man's all-containing soul. 1857 Emerson Poems 25 The all-loving Nature Will smile in a factory. 1863 Bright Sp. 26 Mar. (1878) 125 Christian morality ever widening and all-blessing in its influence. 1866 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1948) 147 My all-accepting fixèd eye. 1870 Bryant Homer I. iii. 94 O all-beholding and all-hearing Sun! 1880 W. James Will to Believe (1897) 237 The vague Asiatic profession of belief in an all-enveloping fate. 1882 Shorthouse J. Inglesant II. 131, I see traces of this all-pervading truth. 1892 W. B. Yeats C'tess Kathleen Pref. 8 No dramatic method elastic and all-containing enough. 1902 W. James Var. Relig. Exper. vi. 142 The jealousy of the gods, the nemesis that follows too much happiness, the all-encompassing death. 1907 ― Meaning of Truth (1909) vi. 157 We get nearer and nearer to realities, we approximate more and more to the all-satisfying limit. 1912 W. de la Mare Listeners 82 This all-encompassing hush. 1930 ‘R. Crompton’ William's Happy Days vi. 129 Lounging at his ease—the gracious, generous all-providing male. 1932 W. B. Yeats Words for Music 14 All-destroying sword-blade, still Carried by the wandering fool. 1935 Burlington Mag. Nov. 235/1 Art, which, like human nature, should be all-embracing in its scope. 1939 R. Campbell Flowering Rifle ii. 66 The former all-accepting soar above To triumph over death and die for love. 1940 L. MacNeice Last Ditch 9 Night came down upon the bogland With all-enveloping wings.

  8. advb. with pa. pple. = ‘wholly, completely’; sometimes assuming an instrumental relation = ‘by all.’ Rare bef. Shakespeare. Examples: all-accomplished, all-admired, -appalled, all-armed, all-dreaded, all-enlightened, all-enraged, all-honoured, all-licensed, all-praised, all-seen, all-shunned, all-starred, all-watched. (These pass by ambiguous combinations, as all-watched, ‘wholly watched through,’ or ‘being all watch,’ into group 12.)

1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 140 This gallant Hotspur, this all-praysed Knight. 1599 ― Hen. V, iv. Cho. 38 The wearie, and all-watched night. 1605 ― Lear i. iv. 220 This, your all-lycenc'd Foole. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. ii. vi. 16 All-honor'd, honest Romaine Brutus. 1607 ― Timon iv. ii. 14 His disease of all shunn'd pouerty. 1611 ― Cymb. iv. ii. 271 Th' all-dreaded Thunderstone. c 1612 Sylvester Lachr. Lachrim. Poems (1633) 1149 O, All-admired, Benign and Bountious! O All-desired (right) Panaretos! a 1631 Drayton Triumph of David, ibid. 114 How this vnarmed youth himselfe would beare Against th' all-armed giant (which they feare). c 1630 Drummond of Hawthornden Wks. 1711, 10/1 False delights..my all-appalled mind so do affray. 1725 Pope Odyss. xiii. 483 Oh all-enlightened Mind! Inform him. 1756 W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orphans IV. xxxiii. 184 Where the modest, and all-accomplished landlady, Mrs. Rogers, was..invited to sit down. 1842 Tennyson Sir Galahad in Poems II. 178 All-arm'd I ride, whate'er betide Until I find the holy Grail. 1865 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1948) 142 And I must have the centre in my heart To spread the compass on the all-starr'd sky. 1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 101 There, sure in sinless being, All-seen, and then all-seeing..We might have lain.

  9. advb. with vb. = ‘wholly, completely.’ rare.

1839 Bailey Festus ix. (1848) 104 Whether the sun all-light thee or the moon.

  II. Synthetic derivatives of comb. and phrases.
  10. n. a. from 6, as all-alikeness, all aloneness, all-fullness, all-powerfulness, all-whiteness, all-wiseness; b. from 6 ¶ , as all-defiance, all-inclusiveness, all-sufficience, all-potency, all-prevalency, all-sufficiency; c. from 7, as all-absorbingness, all-knowingness, all-meaningness, all-pervadingness, all-prevailingness.

a. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World ii. 259 The loue and kindnesse of his all-powerfulnesse. 1656 Jeanes Fvlnesse of Christ 382 That all-fulnesse which dwelleth in Christ. 1670 Eachard Contempt Clergy 56 The all-powerfulness of aqua⁓fortis. 1824 Southey Sir T. More (1831) I. 52 It would be disparaging his own all-wiseness. 1860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. viii. iv. §19 He must be able to bear the all-wrongness. a 1897 W. James in R. B. Perry Tht. & Char. W. James (1935) I. 482 Evolution is a change from a nohowish untalkaboutable all-alikeness to a somehowish..not-all-alikeness. 1921 D. H. Lawrence Sea & Sardinia v. 164 Save us from proletarian homogeneity and khaki all-alikeness. 1924 Glasgow Herald 17 July 9 London's vastness..[is] yet capable of baffling him and impressing him with a feeling of strangeness and ‘all-alone-ness’. 1927 E. Grundy Happy Pianist vi. 32 C major [scale] is technically the most difficult, on account of its ‘all-whiteness’. 1956 D. Gascoyne Night Thoughts 18 Cave-night which every night His all-aloneness drives him back into. 1957 New Biol. XXII. 57 These disturbing cases, which test to the limit our faith in the all-powerfulness of Natural Selection.

b. 1619 J. Sempill Sacrilege Sacredly Handled vii. 79 Hee vseth Tithing, as a chiefe argument to confirme them in the Al-sufficiencie and Eternitie of Christs Priest-hood. 1641 Prel. Episcop. A b, All-sufficiency..to furnish us..with spiritual knowledge. 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. i. ii. liv, What thing not done by his all-potencie? a 1797 Walpole George II (1847) III. i. 16 The Duke of Bedford..reflected on Pitt's all-sufficience. 1826 E. Irving Babylon II. vii. 235 The doctrine of Christ, and the all-prevalency of his kingdom. 1845 Carlyle Cromwell (1871) V. 136 With pious all-defiance front the World. 1865 Pusey Truth & Off. Eng. Ch. 108 The all-sufficiency of the Intercession of our Divine Redeemer. 1870 Smith Syn. & Antonyms, Ubiquity, Syn. Omnipresence. All-pervasiveness. 1882 W. James Let. 8 Jan. in R. B. Perry Thought & Char. W. James (1935) I. 738 What are they but limitations to the all-inclusiveness of any single being? 1938 R. H. Lowie Hist. Ethnol. Theory ix. 131 We are struck by the all-inclusiveness of his interests.

c. 1654 E. Johnson Wonder-wrkg. Prov. 56 The honour of his All-seeingness. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 23 The naked essence of God is as much his all-knowingness, his all-fillingness, or his onefoldness, as his everlastingness. c 1830 Coleridge in Blackw. Mag. (1882) 119 The abominable no-meaningness..The all-meaningness..of the lectures. 1849 J. S. Mill Lett. (1910) I. 146 The limitation may be in our faculties, and in the allpervadingness, to us, of a contrary experience. 1862 F. Hall Hindu Philos. Syst. 64 In the matter of omnipresence,—or, rather, all-pervadingness. 1945 Scrutiny XIII. 131 The all-absorbingness of the purpose.

  11. adv. from the same, as all-powerfully; all-sufficiently; all-convincingly.

1649 Roberts Clavis Bibl. 308 How..all-sufficiently able God is, in performing of his Promises. Mod. An all-convincingly genuine inscription.

  12. adj. in -ed, formed on phrases (chiefly since 1600), as all-aged of all ages, all-coloured, all-shaped, all-sized, all-eyed, being ‘all eyes,’ all-sided (hence all-sidedness), ready or skilful on all sides, versatile. These have the stress on all: ˈall-ˌsided.

1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. i. (1626) 7 All-colour'd Iris, Iuno's messenger. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 61/2 Al-shaped Proteus. 1658 J. R. tr. Mouffet's Theat. Ins. 899 Let that all-eyed Argus tell. 1765 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 478 Persons of all sized apprehensions. 1862 M. Hopkins Hawaii 275 One of those rapid, intelligent, all-sided men. 1876 Coursing Calendar 51 The Craven Cup, for all-aged bitches, contained some already known to fame. 1880 Ruskin Bible of Amiens i. 3 All-coloured velvets, pearl-iridescent colombettes. 1881 W. James in Unitarian Rev. XVI. 407 May you still be the champions of mental completeness and all-sidedness. 1882 Daily News 8 Nov. 6/5 Coursing. All-Aged Stakes, of 6 guineas each. 1905 Terms used in Forestry 15 Many-aged, a forest through all parts of which many different classes of trees tend to distribute themselves. When all age classes are thus distributed, the forest is all-aged. 1933 Times 2 June 15/6 We are sick of the weak-kneed, allsidedness of people who see everything and do nothing.

  III. 13. Special Combs.: all-ages, horses of all ages entered for a race; all-along adv. Bookbinding (see quot. 1960); all-court [court n.¹ 4] a., in Lawn Tennis applied to a game played both from the base-line and from near the net; all-electric a., using only electrical power; all-in-one a. = one piece adj. s.v. one numeral a. 33; also ellipt. as n., a one-piece foundation garment (see quot. 1939); all-or-none, (a) used esp. attrib. of the nature of a response of a muscle or nerve fibre, etc., to a stimulus (see quots.); (b) = all-or-nothing 2; all-points bulletin N. Amer., a radio alert broadcast throughout a police radio network, giving details of a crime, suspect, etc.; also fig. and ellipt. as all-points (colloq.); abbrev. APB (see A III. 1); all-red a., used to indicate a telegraph-line, a trading route, etc., lying throughout in British territory (from the practice of colouring British and Imperial territory red in our maps); all risks, applied attrib. to a type of comprehensive insurance; all-sliming vbl. n. and ppl. a. (Mining), applied to the process of reducing all the ore to slime (see slime n. 4) in the extraction of gold; so all-slimed adj.; all-sorts (cf. sort n.² 12 b), as n. (see quots.) and attrib.; spec. of confectionery (in full liquorice all-sorts), a mixture of black-and-white or brightly coloured sweets containing liquorice; all-terrain vehicle N. Amer., a light-weight motor vehicle suitable for use in rough country; abbrev. ATV (see A III. 1); all-through a., of a journey: performed without a change of conveyance; all-time a., (a) taking one's full time; (b) of a record level or figure, etc., for all time up to the present (orig. U.S.); all-up a., of a postal service, mail, etc.: (with all items) sent by air at surface-mail rates, when this results in earlier delivery (see quot. 1980); all-up (weight), the total (weight) of the machine, crew, passengers and cargo of an aircraft when in the air; all-welded a., having all the joins welded (opp. riveted, etc.); all-wing a., of aircraft (see quot. 1956).

1876 Coursing Calendar 323 The *all-ages were not a good lot, but they contained one or two who had already distinguished themselves this season.

1880 J. W. Zaehnsdorf Art Bookbinding 167 When a volume is sewed, and the thread passes from kettle-stitch to kettle-stitch, or from end to end in each sheet, it is said to be sewed ‘*all-along’. 1960 G. A. Glaister Gloss. of Book 5/2 All along, the method of hand sewing the sections of a book on cords or tapes when the thread goes from kettle-stitch to kettle-stitch inside the fold of each section. Also used to describe a machine-sewn book in which each section has the full number of stitches.

1927 Observer 5 June 21 His main weakness is a preference for the base-line rather than the *all-court game.

1920 Electr. Rev. 27 Feb. 274/2 On Friday, last week..a Press visit to the ‘*All-Electric House’ exhibited..at the Ideal Home Exhibition, took place. 1924 S. R. Roget Dict. Electr. Terms 4/2 All-electric Signalling, automatic or other railway signalling in which the signals are actuated as well as controlled electrically. 1960 Auden Homage to Clio 25 This all-electric room Where ghosts would feel uneasy.

1939 M. B. Picken Lang. Fashion 2/1 *All-in-one. Foundation garment or corselet consisting of girdle and brassière, made with or without a pantie. 1956 Vogue 1 Mar. 212/1 An all-in-one made of nylon satin and Darleen elastic. 1961 Seventeen Oct. 169 Shape up to your feminine potential in this all-in-one sweep that molds and holds you{ddd}the world's first bra to follow nature's curves uninterrupted by seams. 1967 S. Beckett Stories & Texts for Nothing 86, I deduced it all from nature, with the help of an all-in-one. 1977 Wandsworth Boro' News 7 Oct. 8/3 The platforms on which the teachers' desk used to be had been removed many years ago, as had the all-in-one wooden and iron desks and seats of the pupils. 1985 Evergreen Spring 55/1 His wife..would be plump, creating the greatest demand in the country for ‘roll-ons’ and all-in-one foundation garments.

1900 J. S. Burdon-Sanderson in Sharpey-Schafer Text-bk. Physiol. II. 449 The characteristic relation of response to stimulus known as the ‘*all or none’ principle, according to which the vigour of the response evoked by a stimulus adequate to produce an effect, is independent of the strength of the stimulus. 1912 E. H. Starling Princ. Human Physiol. v. 230 The rule of ‘all or none’..was first enunciated for heart muscle. 1920 W. H. R. Rivers Instinct & Unconscious vi. 45 There is [in these reactions] an absence of graduation... They tend to occur in their full strength. This form of reaction is known in physiology as the ‘all-or-none’ reaction. 1928 J. T. MacCurdy Comm. Princ. Psychol. & Physiol. 168 Adrian..found that, in the isolated fibre, the strength of the impulse, once it was set up, remained constant and could not be increased by augmenting the strength of the stimulus. This is known as the all-or-none law of the nerve impulse. 1932 J. S. Huxley Probl. Rel. Growth vi. iv. 178 The ‘all-or-none’ law of the action of the sex-hormones on comb-growth. 1934 Discovery June 165/1 The mechanism of repression is an all-or-none mechanism. 1940 Auden Another Time 70 Are her fond responses All-or-none reactions?

1976 CB Mag. June 77/3 Pick it off a milepost on the roadside and turn on the lights in your car—they have an *all points out on you.

1960 *All-points bulletin [see A III. 1]. 1969 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 13 July 6/3 An all-points bulletin then was put out for the arrest of the former mental patient. 1977 Amer. Speech 1975 L. 55 All-points-bulletin n, earnest plea for help, as in a course. ‘I'm sending out an all-points-bulletin for my English class.’ 1984 Tampa (Florida) Tribune 28 Mar. 1b/2 The police issued an all-points bulletin for the truck as the museum employee drove innocently toward Delray.

1895 G. Hutchison in N.Z. Hansard XCI. 854 Arguments..in favour of the ‘*All Red’ line. 1923 Daily Mail 12 Mar. 9 A huge ‘All-Red’ aeroplane, spanning the Empire in such a series of great, long-distance night-and-day flights as shall obviate any necessity for alighting on foreign soil.

1911 Law Times Rep. CV. 413/2 The insurance is to be a complete insurance against all risks..an insurance which would be known as an *all risks insurance. Ibid. 412/2 Lloyd's ‘all risks’ policy was inadequate. 1962 D. Tench Law for Consumers vi. 74 It is a mistake to imagine that a comprehensive policy covers the consumer against every conceivable happening... Even an ‘All Risks’ policy does not cover you against all risks.

1934 Brit. S. Afr. Ann. 1934–35 103/2 Two or three-stage grinding..reduces all the ore to an *all-slimed product.

1920 A. H. Fay Gloss. Mining & Mineral Industry 26/2 *All-sliming, crushing all the ore in a mill to so fine a state of subdivision that only a small percentage will fail to pass through a 200-mesh screen. 1933 Brit. S. Afr. Ann. 1933–34 97/2 The extended ‘all-sliming’ process plant came into full commission in November, 1929. 1955 Times 20 May 19/1 The reduction plant has been converted to operate on an all-sliming basis, and it is expected that this modification will result in small improvements in reduction costs and gold residue values.

1823 ‘Jon Bee’ Slang 3 *All sorts, or All Nations, spirits compounded of all the drippers in a cellar, and the pewter save-all on a gin-shop counter. 1931 W. Holtby Poor Caroline iii. 76 Pink sugared hazel nuts, and Liquorice All Sorts. 1937 W. de la Mare This Year, Next Year, An all-sorts shop. 1961 20th Cent. Feb. 99 The architectural all-sorts of the actor's metropolitan Mecca.

1970 Time 23 Nov. 41 Proliferating from Maine to California, they [sc. off-road vehicles] now include 200,000 dune buggies,..1,100,000 snowmobiles and, newest of all, 25,000 *all-terrain vehicles (ATV's). 1973 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 July 1/7 The select committee studying motorized snow vehicles and all terrain vehicles spent the better part of a day's sitting listening to an expert about noise.

1912 Mrs. H. Fraser Further Remin. i. 10 After an *all-through journey from Rome, our train crawled into the Gare de Lyons.

1930 H. G. Wells Autocr. Mr. Parham i. i. 4 An *all-time job with a garrulous advertisement contractor. 1933 Sat. Even. Post 10 June 61 Brings cost of power to new all-time low. 1939 ‘N. Blake’ Smiler with Knife ii. 29 An all-time high in adenoidal growth. 1959 N. Marsh Singing in Shrouds vi. 110 An all-time-low in inhibitions and an all-time-high in what it takes. 1959 Observer 29 Mar. 3/3 The market in industrial equities had soared by the end of 1958 to an all-time peak.

1937 Rep. Proc. 14th Conf. ASLIB 76 The ceremonial send-off from Southampton of the first ‘*all-up’ Empire Air Mail. 1964 H. Robinson Carrying British Mails Overseas xxiii. 291 Sir Philip Sassoon..informed the Commons in December 1934 of..the decision to carry all of the first-class mail by air...Up to this time the Imperial surface rate had been..1½d for an ounce. The new ‘all-up’ rate was set at 1½d but for a half ounce only, with no special fee for conveyance by air. 1968 Economist 13 July 41/3 A major diversion of first-class mail from the railways to the airlines, reflecting the determination of the postal authorities to shift to ‘all-up’ handling of inter-city first-class mail. 1980 Postal Rates Overseas (Post Office) 4 Feb. All-up to Europe... Letters and postcards are sent by air whenever this will result in earlier delivery.

1933 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 774 We have been able to build a flying boat with an *all-up weight of 56 tons. 1958 Economist 25 Oct. 349/3 New York airport, for one, has too short a runway to permit it to take off at full all-up weight.

1936 Ibid. 18 Jan. 150/2 The first *all-welded spiral guide⁓frames gasholder to be built in this country is now in course of erection at Newhaven.

1931 Flight 25 Sept. 970a/1 The ideal *all-wing type of airplane would incorporate only wing formation, utilising all power output for lifting purposes. 1956 W. A. Heflin U.S. Air Force Dict. 42 All-wing, of an airplane: Designed and built as a single wing, without conventional fuselage or empennage.

  IV. In modern (esp. 20th-century) use, all with a n. forms an attrib. phr.: a. with names of countries, states, etc., denoting that the whole is concerned; b. with words denoting a period of time: lasting or functioning throughout that period, as all-day, all-night (hence all-nighter: see nighter, also (chiefly U.S.) a task, etc., that takes all night.); c. (with the n. either in sing. or pl.) denoting that all the persons or things expressed by the n. are concerned or included. (Cf. also senses E. 5, 6 b above.)

a. 1853 ‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green I. xi. 102 Verdant's score was always on the lucus a non lucendo principle of derivation..and he felt that he should never rival a Mynn or be a Parr with any one of the ‘All England’ players. 1878 (title) Laws of Lawn-Tennis, as adopted by The Marylebone Cricket Club, and The All England Croquet and Lawn-Tennis Club. 1904 Independent (U.S.) 27 Oct. 951/1 The selection of ‘All-America’ teams seems to have become a mania. 1906 Dublin Rev. Oct. 332 We are forced onwards to the necessity of an all-world State if we would escape an all-world anarchy. 1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 28 Sept. 242/3 The all-India leaders. 1937 Ann. Reg. 1936 ii. 133 The All-Africa Convention. 1952 C. P. Blacker Eugenics viii. 160 In 1926..there took place..the first All-Union [i.e. in U.S.S.R.] census of population.

b. 1861 [see all-night-man]. a 1870 in Dict. Amer. Eng., An all-day horse. 1888 A. C. Gunter Mr. Potter of Texas xx, The..Press Club..just beginning to assume its usual all-night gayety and brilliancy. 1895 [see nighter]. 1901 Dialect Notes II. 134 All-day sucker, a piece of candy on small stick to be disposed of by sucking for some time. 1906 ‘O. Henry’ Four Million 215 An all-night lunch Counter. 1930 B. Maine Rondo i. ii. 38 There are some who profess to find excitement in encountering..all-nighters on the Embankment. 1939 J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath xxvi. 330 Ever' place you look is restaurants... Lookit that all-nighter there. 1955 A. Huxley Genius & Goddess 32 You know those enormous lollipops on sticks that children lick at all day long? Well, that's what her fear was—an all-day sucker. 1959 E. K. Wenlock Kitchin's Road Transport Law 8/2 A cheap ‘all-day’ ticket. 1967 Melody Maker 28 Jan. 11 ‘It's an all-nighter,’ he revealed. ‘And I want you to play three 45 minute spots.’ 1968–70 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 2 All-nighter, a long, difficult job; a cram session. 1978 J. Wambaugh Black Marble xi. 247 She felt like telling him it would be the last all-nighter until he accepted impending middle age. 1984 Nutshell (Gainesville, Fla.) Spring 88/3 Don't let schoolwork pile up into an interminable string of all-nighters.

c. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 8 Nov. 7/1 The National All-Grades Movement of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. 1928 Times 3 July 16/6 The new all-purpose Fairey Napier aeroplane. 1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 23 Nov. 401/3 The all-parties Constitution. Ibid. 26 Oct. 328/2 Six-cylinder Thornycroft all-weather body cars. 1929 Punch's Almanack 1930 4 Nov. p. xxxv, The All-Mains set draws its power from the house electrical supply. 1930 Times Educ. Suppl. 8 Mar. 107/4 With the present system of parochial ‘all-age’ schools it had not been possible to provide for the..needs of the pupils. 1933 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 2 In Europe our aerodromes, being surfaced with excellent turf, are available for landing in every direction. In other words, they are ‘all way’ fields and the envy of the Americans. 1937 Discovery Feb. 44/2 An alternative [television] set incorporating an 8-valve all-wave sound receiver. 1939 D. Cecil Young Melbourne v. 114 A petition was brought forward in the House of Lords asking for an all-party Government. 1955 W. W. Denlinger Complete Boston i. 159 The dog..was many times Best Dog in Show at all-breed shows. 1955 Times 8 July 5/1 The Gloster Javelin delta winged all-weather fighter, which is soon to go into service with the R.A.F. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 1 Mar. 142/1 An all-purpose mounted implement capable of drastically reducing the time and labour spent in preparing seed beds.

  
  
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   Add: [E.] [III.] [13.] all-sky a., covering the entire sky (either both hemispheres or just the visible hemisphere); all-sky camera, a camera, now usu. one with a wide-angle lens, capable of photographing all or most of the visible hemisphere of the sky in one exposure.

1955 Tellus VII. 510/2 An *all-sky camera is doubtless an ideal tool for the study of auroral forms and their changes. 1973 C. Sagan Cosmic Connection (1975) vii. 50 (caption) Composite photograph by all-sky cameras of our Milky Way Galaxy. 1989 Nature 13 July 111/2 The lack of all-sky visibility. 1992 Financial Times 11–12 Apr. ii. 1/6 The Set: plan involves two complementary modes. First, there will be an all-sky search covering nearly 500m channels in the 1,000–10,000 MHz range. 1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 314/1 A highly successful series of flights, called Hi Star,..provided the first all-sky map of the sky at thermal infrared wavelengths.

  
  
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   ▸ all day (also all night) hyperbolically (usually colloq.): an inordinately long time, too long; a seemingly interminable period. to be (also take) all day and variants: to be slow, to dally; (also imper.) don't be all day! and variants: hurry up! don't waste time! not to have all day and variants: to be in a hurry, to be pressed for time.

1581 N. Woodes Confl. Conscience iv. i. sig. Fiiv, Let him go Hypocrisie, stand not all day dodging. 1600 First Pt. Life Sir John Oldcastle sig. F2, Sirrha, no more adoe, come, come, giue me the mony you have, dispatch, I cannot stand all day. a 1616 Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) ii. i. 90 Nay, Ile fit you, and not be all day neither. 1706 S. Centlivre Basset-table v. 59 Come, come, Sir, we cann't wait all Day. 1770 I. Bickerstaffe 'Tis well it's no Worse ii. i. 39 Beat.: Lazarillo, I say, will you be all day? Laz.: Coming, Mrs. Beatrice, coming. 1838 Dickens Oliver Twist II. xxiii. 63 Bidding the messenger walk fast, and not be all night hobbling up the stairs, [she] followed her from the room with a very ill grace. 1865 ‘L. Carroll’ Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ix. 142 Drive on, old fellow! Don't be all day about it! 1913 A. Bathgate Sodger Saudy's Bairn x. 77 But I can't barney with you all day. 1954 I. Murdoch Under Net xi. 142 We haven't got all day. 1992 J. Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! xxix. 260 ‘For any favour, do hurry along,’ she commanded, ‘We haven't got all day.’

  
  
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   ▸ to be all yours: (a) to be wholly devoted, dedicated, or attentive to you (and you alone); (b) to be ready or available for you; (as an interjection) your turn; go ahead; over to you.

1605 G. Chapman et al. Eastward Hoe i. i, Sir, I am all yours:..to Your wisedome I wholy dispose my selfe. 1661 R. Flecknoe Erminia v. xii. 95 Cy. I shall alwayes claim a friends part in her. Cle. She is all yours Madam. 1702 W. Burnaby Modish Husband v. 61 A little Air, my dear, will recover me, and then I'll be all yours. 1851 Internat. Mag. Sept. 204/2 ‘I ask your friendship.’ ‘It is all yours,’ said the Count. 1895 Atlantic Monthly May 588/2 Now listen, Robert, while I tell you something; and I beg you not to be angry—oh, do not be angry, for I am all yours. 1959 H. Pinter Birthday Party ii. 34 Goldberg: Now, Mrs Boles, it's all yours. Meg.: I don't know what to say. 1972 A. Ross London Assignment 17 ‘Go ahead, old boy,’ he said plummily, ‘He's all yours.’ 1983 M. Magorian Goodnight Mister Tom (BNC) 136 Tom climbed down the ladder. ‘All yours,’ he said. 1999 Scotsman (Electronic ed.) 10 July The ball has already whizzed passed him to one of the other side's starlings. ‘Right Darren! All yours! You can beat him!’

  
  
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   ▸ colloq. (orig. U.S.). all-singing, all-dancing (also all singing and dancing): possessing or equipped with a large number and variety of appealing or impressive features, functions, etc. (occas. implying that their usefulness or effectiveness are exaggerated).
  With reference to the use of the phrase in the billing given to (esp. U.S.) stage or film musicals: see quot. 1953.

[1953 M. Renault Charioteer v. 106 The film of the evening was all singing, all dancing, and in technicolour; so Reg had taken from the first that there was no other possible film to see.] 1978 Science 14 July 136/3 ‘It was an all singing, all dancing, thing. Everybody thought it was absolutely marvelous but far too expensive and far too complicated for any crew to handle,’ said one NATO observer. 1989 What Food? Sept. 33/1 Alar is a highly effective all-singing, all-dancing agrochemical that promotes growth, protects against disease, improves colour, and extends the shelf-life of produce. 1991 Buying Cameras Mar. 51 When my prints are compared to my friend's, who owns an all singing and dancing SLR, you would be hard put to know which prints were taken on what camera. 1999 Camping Mag. Apr. 33/1 If you stay on a campsite that you like during 1999, please tell us about it. It doesn't matter whether it's a big, all-singing, all-dancing holiday centre with every mod con, or a quiet little farm site.

  
  
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   ▸ all-expense adj. (of a holiday or trip) (a) U.S. that has a fixed single charge which covers all costs (rare); (b) = all-expenses-paid adj. at Additions

1930 Science 19 Sept. 290/2 There will be a nine-day, *all-expense tour to Mexico..for association members and their families. 1952 N.Y. Herald Tribune 14 Apr. 6 (advt.) Unique, new, all-expense fishing ‘package’ trips. 1977 Newsweek (Nexis) 31 Jan. 54, I resent the innuendo that it is improper to go to Taiwan.., but that it is perfectly all right to go on an all-expense trip to the People's Republic of China. 2000 Bath Chron. (Electronic ed.) 24 Oct. The winner will receive an all expense trip to London.

  
  
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   ▸ all-expense-paid adj. (orig. and chiefly U.S.) = all-expenses-paid adj. at Additions.

1960 L. E. Lomax Reluctant Afr. 22 An honest-to-God African exile..can get an *all-expense-paid trip to Moscow or Peking. 1976 New Yorker 5 Jan. 20/3 The winner of a Hudson Valley Railroad society fund-raising raffle..won an all-expense-paid Amtrak trip to Montreal. 2000 Arizona Republic (Electronic ed.) 20 Dec. Regional winners are eligible to compete for the national award, which is $5,000 and an all-expense-paid trip to the awards ceremony.

  
  
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   ▸ all-expenses adj. = all-expenses-paid adj. at Additions.

1962 J. L. McClellan Crime without Punishment x. 169 Three officials..went on an *all-expenses tour of the Caribbean. 1977 Assoc. Press News File (Nexis) Oct. 13 (bc cycle), Louisville, Ky.., Agents..offered an all-expenses trip to New Jersey, plus $200. 2000 Evening Times (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 2 Sept. She won an all expenses trip to Disneyworld.

  
  
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   ▸ all-expenses-paid adj. (of a holiday or trip) with all costs covered by the donor; provided completely free (as a competition prize, gift, etc.).

1939 Public Opinion Q. 3 701/1 The usual prize..is an *all-expenses-paid trip to the World's Fair. 1976 N.Y. Times 29 Feb. v. 4/3 The grand prize..was a one-week, all-expenses-paid trip to the Soviet Union. 2001 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 14 July The Grampian Houston Junior Trip committee have named 12 boys to enjoy an all expenses paid 10-day golfing visit to Texas from October 15 to 25.

  
  
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   ▸ all-new adj. completely new; involving or comprising entirely new features or elements; esp. designating an innovatory product, or simply one which is an updated version of an existing product.

1954 Econometrica 22 517 The optimum construction program and product-mix are calculated for an *all-new thermal refinery. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 15 Mar. 103 This all-new British-built p.t.o. baler offers performance and reliability unmatched by any machine in its class. 1992 Times Higher Educ. Suppl. 27 Mar. 18/2 Eastern European countries and some ex-Soviet bloc countries were setting out their stall on an all-new expanded open market. 2001 Model Collector May 14/1 The all new 105E Anglia.

  
  
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   ▸ all-night sitting n. Polit. (orig. and chiefly Brit.) (in a legislative assembly, etc.) a session of business, esp. a parliamentary debate, which continues into or throughout the night.

1881 Times 27 Jan. 8/3 In previous *all-night sittings of the House there has been a frequency of divisions. 1939 W. I. Jennings Parliament v. 138 Most all-night sittings are due to the fact that an agreement cannot be reached. 1989 Daily Tel. 20 Dec. 2/3 The quotas, fixed for 1990 by the Council of Fisheries Ministers after an all-night sitting, were ‘the best we could have hoped for’. 2001 Irish Times (Electronic ed.) 30 Aug. A special all-night sitting of the [Australian] senate had yet to conclude at the time of going to press although the Bill had been passed by the lower House of Representatives.

  
  
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   ▸ all-ticket adj. designating or relating to an event (esp. a sporting event) to which admission is only by tickets bought in advance.

1946 Sunday Dispatch 8 Sept. 6/3 Eighty-five thousand wild enthusiasts..can cheer themselves hoarse in an *all-ticket affair. 1976 Glasgow Herald 26 Nov. 28/2 The match has been limited to a 10,000 all-ticket crowd. 2001 Western Daily Press (Bristol) (Electronic ed.) 27 Mar. The Pirates are reminding fans that next Tuesday's Bristol derby at the Memorial Stadium is all ticket.

Oxford English Dictionary