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ALL

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all¹

  • /ɔːl/ UK
  • [oːɫ] UK
  • /u(ɫ)/ Multicultural London English
  • /aːl/ Northumbria
  • /aː/ Northumbria
  • /ɔl/ US
  • [ɔɫ] US
  • /ɑl/ US, cot caught merger, dialectal
  • [ɑɫ] US, cot caught merger, dialectal
  • /ɒl/ Canada, dialectal
  • [ɒɫ] Canada, dialectal
  • /oːl/ Australia, New Zealand
  • [oːɫ] Australia, New Zealand

Sounds like awl, I'll (some dialects) · Rhymes with -ɔːl

Where it comes from

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 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).

determiner a' · al

  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.
  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.
  3. Only; alone; nothing but. He's all talk; he never puts his ideas into practice.
  4. obsolete Any. without all remedy

pronoun a' · al

  1. Everything. Some gave all they had.
  2. Everyone. A good time was had by all (of you/us/them).
  3. The only thing(s). All that was left was a small pile of ash.
  4. India, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Southern US 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?

adverb a' · al

  1. childish, emphatic, intensifier, not comparable, sometimes 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.
  2. not comparable Apiece; each. The score was 30 all when the rain delay started.
  3. not comparable So much; used with "the" and a comparative. Don't want to go? All the better since I lost the tickets.
  4. not comparable, obsolete, poetic Even; just. All as his straying flock he fed.
  5. not comparable A quotative particle, compare like. She was all, “Whatever.”

noun alls · a' · al

  1. countable, uncountable Everything that one is capable of. She gave her all, and collapsed at the finish line.
  2. countable 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. countable, uncountable Everything in general; all that matters. I will die fighting for my people, because my people are all.

conjunction a' · al

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

adjective a' · al

  1. Pennsylvania, dialectal All gone; dead. The butter is all.

ALL²

noun ALLs

  1. abbreviation, countable, initialism, uncountable Initialism of anterolateral ligament.anterolateral ligament
  2. abbreviation, countable, initialism, uncountable Initialism of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.acute lymphoblastic leukemia In children, leukemia was most commonly ALL—lymphoblastic leukemia—and was almost always swiftly lethal.

proper noun

  1. UK, abbreviation, acronym, historical Acronym of Alliance for Local Living.Alliance for Local Living

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