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  • al (obsolete)

From Middle English all, from Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, of uncertain origin[1] but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“beyond, other”). Cognate with West Frisian al (“all”), Dutch al (“all”), Scots a' (“all”), German all (“all”), Swedish all (“all”), Norwegian all (“all”), Icelandic allur (“all”), Welsh holl (“all”), Irish uile (“all”), Lithuanian aliái (“all, each, every”).

The dialectal sense “all gone” is a calque of German alle. The use in who all, where all etc. also has equivalents in German (see alles).

 
In this picture, all of the red shapes are inside the yellow boundary.

all

  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 at the scorer’s table.

    All flesh is originally grass.

    All my friends like classical music.

    • 1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 2, member 6, subsection iv, page 298:

      Beautie alone is a ſoveraigne remedy againſt feare,griefe,and all melancholy fits; a charm,as Peter de la Seine and many other writers affirme,a banquet it ſelfe;he gives inſtance in diſcontented Menelaus that was ſo often freed by Helenas faire face: and hTully, 3 Tusc. cites Epicurus as a chiefe patron of this Tenent.

    • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

      In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. In this way all respectable burgesses, down to fifty years ago, spent their evenings.

    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

      Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned, […] and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights.

    • 2019 March 6, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in The Battle of Samar (Alternate History) - Bring on the Battleships!‎[1], archived from the original on 4 July 2022:

      On the one hand, we had a scenario where, effectively, the American admiral just went "You know what, all the destroyers attack", at which point they mowed through the Japanese destroyers like a Grim Reaper through a harvest of very, very dead gorn, especially with the Brooklyns in support.

  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.

    (= through the whole of the day and the whole of the night.)

    I’ve been working on this all year.

    (= from the beginning of the year until now.)
  3. Only; alone; nothing but.

    He's all talk; he never puts his ideas into practice.

  4. (obsolete) Any.

every individual of the given class

throughout the whole of (a stated period of time)

Translations to be checked

all

  1. Everything.

    Some gave all they had.

    She knows all and sees all.

    Those who think they know it all are annoying to those of us who do.

  2. Everyone.

    A good time was had by all.

    We all enjoyed the movie.

    • 2012 October 9, Amy Hauser, Tom Hauser, chapter 7, in Marge Thompson, Frankie M. Leisering, editors, In His Grip … a Walk Through Breast Cancer‎[2], WestBow Press, →ISBN, page 39:

      Hey all, just a quick note as I am trying to do 46 things at once and slow down a touch all at once…

  3. The only thing(s).

    All that was left was a small pile of ash.

    We ate potatoes and ziti .... that's all.

  5. (chiefly Southern US, South Midland US, Midland US, Scotland, Northern Ireland, India) 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.)
    • 1904 October 10, Shea v. Nilima, [US] Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in 1905, Reports Containing the Cases Determined in All the Circuits from the Organization of the Courts, page 266:
      Q. Now, then, when you started to go to stake the claims, who all went along?
      A. I and Johan Peter Johansen, Otto Greiner, and Thorulf Kjelsberg.

    • 1998, Paul D. Staudohar, editor, Football's Best Short Stories‎[3], section 107:

      "I mean, you could have called us—collect, o'course—jes' to let us know how-all it's a-goin'."

    • 2002, Richard Haddock, Arkalalah, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 73:

      "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?"

    • 2011, Moni Mohsin, Tender Hooks, Random House India, →ISBN:

      "Do you ever ask me what I want to see? Or ask me about where all I've gone, who all I've met, what all I've done? Never. Not for one second. And why? Because you don't give two hoops about me."

all (not comparable)

  1. (intensifier, sometimes childish) 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.

    • 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:

      'Tis mystery all: th'Immortal dies

    • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 127:

      The parson, all unaware, dully pursued his calling, perched above the exquisite derision of their glances.

  2. Apiece; each.

    The score was 30 all when the rain delay started.

  3. (degree) So much.

    Don't want to go? All the better since I lost the tickets.

  4. (obsolete, poetic) Even; just.

    • 1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender, London: Hugh Singleton, →OCLC:

      All as his straying flock he fed.

    • 1715, John Gay, What D’ye Call It?, London: Bernard Lintott, →OCLC:

      A damsel lay deploring / All on a rock reclined.

  5. A quotative particle, compare like.

    She was all, “Whatever.”

wholly

apiece

so much

Translations to be checked

all (countable and uncountable, plural alls)

  1. (with a possessive pronoun) Everything that one is capable of.

    She gave her all, and collapsed at the finish line.

  2. (countable) The totality of one's possessions.
    • Folio Society 1973, pp. 37-8:

      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.

    • 1992, Bruce Coville, My Teacher Flunked the Planet:

      All are one and one is all.

everything possible

all

  1. (obsolete) Although.

    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, volume 2, London: Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

      And those two froward sisters, their faire loves, / Came with them eke, all they were wondrous loth.

all

  1. (Pennsylvania, dialect) All gone; dead.

    The butter is all.

Terms etymologically related to all

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “all”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

From Ottoman Turkish آل (al).[1]

all (feminine alle)

  1. of glowing, reddish color
  1. ^ Bufli, G., Rocchi, L. (2021) “all”, in A historical-etymological dictionary of Turkisms in Albanian (1555–1954), Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste, page 36
  • Newmark, L. (1999) “all”, in Oxford Albanian-English Dictionary‎[4]
  • “all”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006

See arall (“other”)

all

  1. other

Inherited from Latin allium. Compare Occitan alh, French ail, Spanish ajo.

all m (plural alls)

  1. garlic
  2. garlic clove

From Proto-Finnic *alla.

all

  1. under, below (Governs the genitive)

From Middle High German al, from Old High German al, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz. Cognate with English all.

all

  1. all

    Alle Menschen sind gleich.

    All people are equal.

    Du musst doch nicht allen Unsinn nachmachen, den du hörst!

    You needn't reproduce all nonsense that you hear!
    • 1843, Karl Ludwig Kannegießer (translation from Italian into German), Die göttliche Komödie des Dante Alighieri, 4th edition, 1st part, Leipzig, p. 84:

      ... / Nachdem, von Wuth und Grausamkeit entbronnen, / Der Weiberschwarm die Männer all erschlug.

      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. every (in time intervals, with plural noun)

    Wir treffen uns alle zwei Wochen.

    We meet up every two weeks.
  • The bare form all is used with articles and pronouns, which it precedes (as in English). For instance: all die Sachen (“all the things”); all dies[es] Gerede (“all this chitchat”); all[e] meine Freunde (“all my friends”) (more common with the e). Colloquial German often uses the adjective ganz instead: die ganzen Sachen; dies[es] ganze Gerede; meine ganzen Freunde.
  • If all is followed by an adjective, the adjective is declined weakly: alle guten Sachen (“all good things”), alles Gute (“all the best”)
Declension of aller
masculine feminine neuter plural
nominative aller alle alles alle
genitive alles
allen 		aller alles
allen 		aller
dative allem aller allem allen
accusative allen alle alles alle
  • “all” in Duden online
  • “all” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

all

  1. Romanization of 𐌰𐌻𐌻

From Middle High German al, from Old High German al, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz. Cognate with German all.

all

  1. all, every

    Alle Kinner schlofe jetz.

    All children are sleeping now.

    Aller Aanfang is schwäer.

    Every beginning is difficult.

all

  1. everyone

    All, wo dart waare, sin gestorreb.

    Everyone who was there died.

all

  1. all, completely

    Das is all fertich.

    This is all finished.

From Middle High German and Old High German al, from Proto-Germanic *allaz.

all

  1. (inflected, before plural or rarely singular noun) all

    All Kanner kënne matmaachen.

    All children may participate.

    D’Konschtwierk gouf vun alle Leit bewonnert.

    The artwork was admired by all people.
    mat aller Kraaft ― with all [available] force
  2. (invariable, before another determiner) all, the whole of

    Trotz all sengem Talent ass näischt aus him ginn.

    Despite all his talent he achieved nothing.
  3. (invariable, before singular noun) every, each
    Synonyms: jidder, jiddwer

    All Employé huet d’Recht op bezuelte Congé.

    Every employee has a right to paid leave.

    Et muss een net mat all Virschlag eens sinn.

    One needn’t agree to every proposition.

all

  1. all

    Meng Äntwerte waren all richteg.

    My answers were all correct.
  • The pronoun corresponds only to sense 1 of the determiner.

From Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz.

all

  1. all (entirely, completely)

all

  1. all, every

    • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎[5], published c. 1410, Coꝛinthis ·ii· 11:9, page 72r, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

      ⁊ whanne I was a mong ȝou ⁊ hadde nede .· I was chargeouſe to no man / foꝛ bꝛiþeren þat camen fro macedonye fulfilliden þat þat failide to me / ⁊ in alle þingis I haue kept and ſchal kepe me wiþouten charge to ȝou

      And when I was amongst you and felt need, I wasn't burdensome to anybody, because brothers who came from Macedonia provided whatever I didn't have. So in everything, I've kept, and will keep, myself from burdening you.

From Old Norse allr.

all (neuter singular alt, plural alle)

  1. all

From Old Norse allr, from Proto-Germanic *allaz (“all”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“all”). Cognate with Faroese and Icelandic allur, Swedish all and Danish al. Akin to English all.

all m or f (neuter alt, plural alle)

  1. all
  2. (in the plural) everybody
  3. over, at an end, finished
    Sumaren er all. ― The summer is at an end.

    • 1773, E. Storm, Paa Kongjens Føssilsdag:

      Mæin kor tæk mid Drikkjen, Jula æ no oull, / Kagga vor aa Bolla æ baa tur aa koull?

      But where do we take the drink? Christmas is over, you know, / our keg and our bowl are both dry and cold.
  4. tired, exhausted, worn out; weak
    Skorne er alle ― The shoes are worn out.
  5. dead
    Han er mest all. ― He’s almost dead.

    Declension of all

singular masculine feminine neuter
nominative-accusative all oll1 alt
dative1 ollom ― ollo
plural masculine feminine neuter
nominative-accusative alle alla2 alle, oll1
dative1 ollom

1: Rare or dialectal. 2: Unofficial today.

all (Anglian)

  1. Alternative form of eall

Declension of all — Strong

all (Anglian)

  1. Alternative form of eall

From Middle High German and Old High German al. Compare German all, Dutch al, English all.

all

  1. all

From Old Swedish alder, from Old Norse allr, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-.

all (neuter allt, masculine alle, plural alla)

  1. all

    Drack du upp all mjölk?

    Did you drink all the milk?

All (with inflections) is used with mass nouns. The corresponding for nouns with ordinary plural is alla.

A masculine-looking form (alle) is virtually only retained in the fixed expressions alle man and allesamman (“everyone”).

all

  1. Soft mutation of gall.

all

  1. Alternative form of aul

    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 84:

      Th’ weithest all curcagh, wafur, an cornee.

      You seem all snappish, uneasy, and fretful.

    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 7, page 86:

      Th' heiftem o' pley vell all ing to lug;

      The weight of the play fell into the hollow;

    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 9, page 88:

      A clugercheen gother: all, ing pile an in heep,

      A crowd gathered up: all, in pile and in heap,

    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 10, page 88:

      Oore hart cam' t' oore mouth, an zo w' all ee green;

      Our hearts came to our mouth, and so with all in the green;
  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 84