all

Less common meanings

5. 5
   adverb

   So much or by that much, used with the and a comparative.

   The delay made the news all the sweeter.

   That is all the more reason to go.

   Note

   The 'the' here points at no noun; it means by that much. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The here is adverbial, expressing a degree of comparison rather than introducing a noun. gutenberg.org
6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Everything a person has to give, especially their whole effort, or, less often, everything they own; used with a possessive.

   He gave his all for the club.

   She put her all into the new job.

   UsageWith a possessive: give your all, put her all into the job.

   Similarbest, utmost

7. 7
   determiner

   Only, nothing but; made up entirely of one thing, usually implying that something else is missing, as in all talk.

   The film was all noise and no story.

   She is all smiles today.

   UsageUsually after be, often in a pair naming what is missing: all talk and no action. Or alone: she's all smiles.

   Note

   Wholeness turned into a reproach: to call someone all talk is to say talk is the whole of him. Shakespeare's 'all mirth and no matter' in Much Ado About Nothing is one such pair. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Shakespeare wrote Much Ado About Nothing. folger.edu
   • The exact words 'all mirth and no matter' occur in Much Ado About Nothing, spoken by Beatrice. folger.edu
8. 8
   quoting speechadverb

   Used in casual speech to introduce someone's reported words or attitude.

   I was all, 'No way,' and he was all, 'Yes way.'

   My mom was all, 'Be home by ten.'

   UsageFollows be, much like be like: he was all, 'No big deal.'

   Similarlike

9. 9
   each sideadverb

   Apiece or each, used in scores to show that both sides have the same number.

   At one all, the crowd grew nervous.

   The sets stood at one all.

   UsageComes after the number: one all, thirty all.

   Similarapiece, each

10. 10
    in questionspronoundialectalIndiaNorthern IrelandScotlandSouthern US

    Used after who, what, where or how to widen a question to more than one thing.

    Where all have you lived?

    Tell me who all you met at the party.

    Note

    A question widened to expect a list: 'who all went along?' asks for every name, where plain who might settle for one. The use is regional, found in the Southern and Midland US, Scotland, Northern Ireland and India, and speakers differ on which question words accept it. It appears in testimony quoted in a 1904 US court decision and in a Pakistani novel. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The listed regions and the variation between dialects are documented. en.wiktionary.org
    • The construction occurs in a novel, identifiable as Moni Mohsin's Tender Hooks. en.wiktionary.org
    • The cited novel has a Pakistani author and setting. penguin.co.in
11. 11
    everything to someonenouncountable or uncountable

    Everything in general, or all that matters to someone, used as a noun, as in love is all.

    Her children were her all.

    For the poet, love is all.

    Similareverything, world

    Oppositenothing

12. 12
    goneadjectivedialectalPennsylvania

    Used up or all gone, especially of food or supplies.

    Sorry, the cake is all, so you'll have to settle for a cookie.

    We can't make pancakes, because the flour is all.

    UsageAfter be: the butter is all, meaning used up. Elsewhere it may sound like a word is missing.

    Similargone, finished

    Note

    Regional speech treats used-up as a state the noun can be in: the butter is all means the butter is gone. The use belongs to Pennsylvania dialect, modeled on German alle ('used up'), and elsewhere it will likely be heard as a mistake. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The regional construction the butter is all means that the butter is gone. en.wikipedia.org
    • This sense is documented in Pennsylvania dialect. en.wiktionary.org
    • This sense is modeled on German alle. en.wiktionary.org
    • German alle can mean used up or gone. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    adverbobsolete

    Even or just, used in poetry chiefly as a metrical filler.

    All as his straying flock he fed.

    1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender

    A damsel lay deploring / All on a rock reclined.

    1715, John Gay, What D’ye Call It?

    Note

    The ballad's filler. In John Gay's 'all on a rock reclined' from 1715, or Spenser's 'all as his straying flock he fed', it adds a beat and a touch of emphasis rather than meaning. It is the "wholly" intensifier worn down to rhythm. Now obsolete, it belongs to old verse and to imitations of it. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • John Gay wrote the quoted line. sydney.edu.au
    • Gay's quotation was first published in 1715. grubstreetproject.net
    • Spenser wrote the quoted line. en.wikisource.org
14. 14
    determinerobsolete

    Any, after a negative.

    Note

    Shakespeare's 'without all remedy' means beyond any cure, not beyond every cure. After without, the totality word slid toward any, on the logic of no remedy among all remedies. That reading is now obsolete. Readers of older texts should take all after without as any, but nobody should write it that way today. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The quoted phrase occurs in Shakespeare. folger.edu
    • All means 'any' in this quotation. en.wiktionary.org
    • All can mean 'any' in some older negative expressions, but the substitution is not a general rule. In Romans 10:16, 'not all' means 'not everyone', not 'not anyone'. en.wikisource.org
15. 15
    conjunctionobsolete

    Although, or even though.

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

    1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

    Note

    A conjunction that is easy to misread. In Spenser's 'all were they wondrous loth', from The Faerie Queene, the words mean although they were very reluctant, not that every one of them was. It is the first half of although standing alone. Long obsolete, it is something to recognize in sixteenth-century verse, not something to use. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 8 facts

    • All can be a conjunction meaning although. en.wiktionary.org
    • The quotation is from Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene. gutenberg.org
    • The wording is 'all were they wondrous loth' (Book II, Canto II, stanza 34). talus.artsci.wustl.edu
    • All introduces a concession here, rather than meaning every one of them. talus.artsci.wustl.edu
    • Loth means reluctant. en.wiktionary.org
    • Wondrous intensifies the adjective. en.wiktionary.org
    • All is the first component of although, used independently here. en.wiktionary.org
    • This construction occurs in sixteenth-century verse. talus.artsci.wustl.edu