all

Every individual or anything of the given class, with no exceptions (the noun or noun phrase denoting the class must be plural or uncountable).

Adjective

  1. All gone; dead.
    • The butter is all.

Origin

From Middle English all, from Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, of uncertain origin but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”). Cognates Cognate with Scots a, a', aa, aal, aw (“all”), Yola aal, al, all, aul (“all”), North Frisian aal, aale, ale, ali, åle (“all”), Saterland Frisian al (“already”), aal (“all”), West Frisian alle (“all”), Dutch al (“all”), German and Luxembourgish all (“all”), Vilamovian oły, ołły (“all”), Yiddish אַלע (ale, “all”), Danish al (“all”), Faroese and Icelandic allur (“all”), Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish all (“all”), Norwegian Nynorsk aillj, all (“all”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌻𐍃 (alls, “all”); also Breton and Welsh holl (“all”), Cornish oll (“all”), Irish alig, eile, uile, uileag, uilig (“all”), Manx ooilley (“all”), Scottish Gaelic uile, uileag (“all”), Lithuanian aliái (“every”), Armenian ողջ (oġǰ, “entire, whole”). The...

Forms

a' al

Related

albeit almighty almost alone already alright also although altogether always any each every everyone everything none some quantifier ∀

Derived

allhood allness

Adverb

  1. Wholly; entirely; completely; totally.
    • She was sitting all alone. It suddenly went all quiet. I'm all done, Mommy! I did it all by myself.
    • 'Tis mystery all: th'Immortal dies - 1738, Charles Wesley, “And can it be that I should gain”, in John Wesley, editor, A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, Charlestown: Lewis Timothy, →OCLC:
    • The parson, all unaware, dully pursued his calling, perched above the exquisite derision of their glances. - 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 127:
  2. Apiece; each.
    • The score was 30 all when the rain delay started.
  3. So much; used with "the" and a comparative.
    • Don't want to go? All the better since I lost the tickets.
    • If he leave the company, I'll have to work all the harder.
  4. Even; just.
    • All as his straying flock he fed. - 1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender, London: Hugh Singleton, →OCLC:
    • A damsel lay deploring / All on a rock reclined. - 1715, John Gay, What D’ye Call It?, London: Bernard Lintott, →OCLC:
  5. A quotative particle, compare like.
    • She was all, “Whatever.”

Forms

a' al

Synonyms

completely

Conjunction

  1. Although.
    • And those two froward sisters, their faire loves, / Came with them eke, all they were wondrous loth. - 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, volume 2, London: Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Forms

a' al

Derived

abandon hope, all ye who enter here a bit of all right above all after all after all is said and done against all odds albe algate alkin all aboard all about all ages all alone all along all-American all-Americanness all-a-mort all and some all and sundry all-around all around all-arounder all as one all-as-one

Determiner

  1. Every individual or anything of the given class, with no exceptions (the noun or noun phrase denoting the class must be plural or uncountable).
    • All contestants must register for the footrace: we've arranged numbers for them all.
    • List all books of which you were the sole or co-author.
    • All flesh is originally grass.
  2. Throughout the whole of (a stated period of time; generally used with units of a day or longer).
    • The store is open all day and all night.
    • I’ve been working on this all year.
  3. Only; alone; nothing but.
    • He's all talk; he never puts his ideas into practice.
    • I was born to speak all mirth and no matter. - 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
  4. Any.
    • without all remedy - c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

Forms

a' al

Noun

  1. Everything that one is capable of.
    • She gave her all, and collapsed at the finish line.
  2. The totality of one's possessions.
    • she therefore ordered Jenny to pack up her alls and begone, for that she was determined she should not sleep that night within her walls. […] I packed up my little all as well as I could, and went off.
  3. Everything in general; all that matters.
    • I will die fighting for my people, because my people are all.
    • All are one and one is all. - 1992, Bruce Coville, My Teacher Flunked the Planet:

Forms

alls a' al

Pronoun

  1. Everything.
    • Some gave all they had.
    • She knows all and sees all.
    • All of Jones’s maneuvers to trounce Kennedy.
  2. Everyone.
    • A good time was had by all (of you/us/them).
    • We all enjoyed the movie.
    • I've got three children, of whom all are studying medicine.
  3. The only thing(s).
    • All that was left was a small pile of ash.
    • We ate potatoes and ziti .... that's all.
  4. Used after who, what, where, how and similar words, either without changing their meaning, or indicating that one expects that they cover more than one element, e.g. that "Who all attended?" is more than one person. (Some dialects only allow this to follow some words and not others.)
    • Q. Now, then, when you started to go to stake the claims, who all went along? - 1904 October 10, Shea v. Nilima, [US] Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in 1905, Reports Containing the Cases Determined in All the Circuits...
    • "I mean, you could have called us—collect, o'course—jes' to let us know how-all it's a-goin'." - 1998, Paul D. Staudohar, editor, Football's Best Short Stories, section 107:
    • "Where all did he go? What exactly was his job?" Gary shrugged and produced a weak laugh. "I reckon the Middle East. Ain't that where all the oil is?" - 2002, Richard Haddock, Arkalalah, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 73:

Forms

a' al