ˌall ˈout, advb. phr.
Also written 4 alout, 5–6 al-out(e, all-out.
[See all C 9.]
1. adv. Entirely, completely, quite.
| c 1300 Beket 1940 The lawes of his lond alout riȝt withsede. c 1400 Rom. Rose 2935 Now have I declared thee alle oute. c 1500 Partenay 866 Thay approched Columbere toun al-oute. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. xvi. 19 To mekil all out sa cruel punyssing. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) I. 10 Not all out foure moneths. Ibid. I. 365 Not all out so good. 1638 Sanderson 35 Serm. (1681) II. 115 Our conversation..cannot be all out so free and familiar. 1835 M. Doyle Common Sense for Common People 18 Bench..Were you drunk? Tom. Not all out, I could keep my feet on the floor. 1852 W. R. Wilde Irish Pop. Superstitions iv. 121 In the islands of the extreme west, except from sheer old age, or some very ostensible cause, no-one is ever believed to ‘die all out’. |
† 2. esp. to drink all out: to empty a bumper. Obs.
| 1530 Palsgr. 676/2, I quaught, I drinke all out. Je boys dautant. 1542 Boorde Introd. Knowl. 151 There be many good felowes, the whyche wyll drynke all out. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. (1634) 13 To say drink a Garaus..which is to say All-out. |
† 3. Hence subst. A bumper. [Cf. ] Obs.
| 1611 Cotgr., Alluz (Fr.), all-out; or a carouse fully drunk up. |
4. a. Using or involving all one's (or its) strength or resources; ‘fully extended’; at top speed.
| 1895 Windsor Mag. I. 120/1 There is no fun in going all-out. 1919 Punch 19 Mar. 216/2 The car..bolted down-hill all out. 1925 E. F. Norton Fight for Everest 1924 143 Irvine..was willing.. to ‘go all out’, as he put it, in an utmost effort to reach the top. 1928 Galsworthy Swan Song ii. vi. 149 He..made up his mind to go ‘all out’ for his Uncle Hilary's slum-conversion scheme. 1938 E. Waugh Scoop iii. 60 One screw [sc. of an aeroplane] swinging slow, one spinning faster, one totally invisible, roaring all-out. 1940 War Illustr. 16 Feb. 110/1 Germany wants oil..but if she is to go all out for victory she must have at least 10,000,000 tons a year. |
b. As adj. phr.
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 29 Sept. 4/2 To put a vehicle to an all-out test. 1955 A. L. Rowse Expansion Eliz. England vii. 261 Not committing herself to an all-out war in Europe. 1959 M. M. Kaye House of Shade iii. 39 An all-out bid for control. |