ALL, adjective awl. [Gr. Shemitic from calah, to be ended or completed to perfect.]

1. Every one, or the whole number of particulars.

2. The whole quantity, extent, duration, amount, quality, or degree; as, all the wheat; all the land; all the year; all the strength. This word signifies then, the whole or entire thing, or all the parts or particulars which compose it. It always precedes the definitive adjectives, the, my, thy, his, our, your, their; as, all the cattle; all my labor; all thy goods; all his wealth; all our families; all your citizens; all their property.

This word, not only in popular language, but in the scriptures, often signifies, indefinitely, a large portion or number, or a great part. Thus, all the cattle in Egypt died; all Judea and all the region round about Jordan; all men held John as a prophet; are not to be understood in a literal sense, but as including a large part or very great numbers.

This word is prefixed to many other words, to enlarge their signification; as already, always, all-prevailing.

ALL, adverb Wholly; completely; entirely; as all along; all bedewed; all over; my friend is all for amusement; I love my father all In the ancient phrases, all too dear, all so long, this word retains its appropriate sense; as, 'he thought them six-pence all too dear, ' that is, he thought them too dear by the sum of sixpence. In the sense of although, as, 'all were it as the rest, ' and in the sense of just, or at the moment, as 'all as his straying flock he fed, ' it is obsolete, or restricted to poetry.

It is all one is a phrase equivalent to the same thing in effect; that is, it is wholly the same thing.

ALL the better is equivalent to wholly the better; that is, better by the whole difference.

ALL, noun

1. The whole number; as, all have not the same disposition; that is, all men.

2. The whole; the entire thing; the aggregate amount; as, our all is at stake.

And Laban said, all that thou seest is mine. Genesis 31:1.

This adjective is much used as a noun, and applied to persons or things.

ALL in all is a phrase which signifies, all things to a person, or every thing desired.

Thou shalt be all in all and I in thee, Forever.

When the words, and all close an enumeration of particulars, the word all is either intensive, or is added as a general term to express what is not enumerated; as a tree fell, nest, eagles and all

At all is a phrase much used by way of enforcement or emphasis, usually in negative or interrogative sentences. He has no ambition at all; that is, not in the least degree. Has he any property at all?

ALL and some, in Spenser, Mason interprets, one and all But from Lye's Saxon Dictionary, it appears that the phrase is a corruption of the Sax. ealle at somne, all together, all at once, from somne, together, at once. See Lye under Somne.

ALL in the wind, in seamen's language, is a phrase denoting that the sails are parallel with the course of the wind, so as to shake.

ALL is well is a watchman's phrase, expressing a state of safety.

ALL, in composition, enlarges the meaning, or adds force to a word; and it is generally more emphatical than most. In some instances, all is incorporated into words, as in almighty, already, always; but in most instances, it is an adjective prefixed to other words, but separated by a hyphen.