Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Note: In the ancient phrases, all too dear, all too much, all
so long, etc., this word retains its appropriate sense
or becomes intensive.
2. Even; just. (Often a mere intensive adjunct.) [Obs. or
Poet.]
All as his straying flock he fed. --Spenser.
A damsel lay deploring All on a rock reclined.
--Gay.
{All to}, or {All-to}. In such phrases as ``all to rent,''
``all to break,'' ``all-to frozen,'' etc., which are of
frequent occurrence in our old authors, the all and the to
have commonly been regarded as forming a compound adverb,
equivalent in meaning to entirely, completely, altogether.
But the sense of entireness lies wholly in the word all
(as it does in ``all forlorn,'' and similar expressions),
and the to properly belongs to the following word, being a
kind of intensive prefix (orig. meaning asunder and
answering to the LG. ter-, HG. zer-). It is frequently to
be met with in old books, used without the all. Thus
Wyclif says, ``The vail of the temple was to rent:'' and
of Judas, ``He was hanged and to-burst the middle:'' i.
e., burst in two, or asunder.
{All along}. See under {Along}.
{All and some}, individually and collectively, one and all.
[Obs.] ``Displeased all and some.'' --Fairfax.
{All but}.
(a) Scarcely; not even. [Obs.] --Shak.
(b) Almost; nearly. ``The fine arts were all but
proscribed.'' --Macaulay.
{All hollow}, entirely, completely; as, to beat any one all
hollow. [Low]
{All one}, the same thing in effect; that is, wholly the same
thing.
{All over}, over the whole extent; thoroughly; wholly; as,
she is her mother all over. [Colloq.]
{All the better}, wholly the better; that is, better by the
whole difference.
{All the same}, nevertheless. ``There they [certain
phenomena] remain rooted all the same, whether we
recognize them or not.'' --J. C. Shairp. ``But Rugby is a
very nice place all the same.'' --T. Arnold. -- See also
under {All}, n.