all-over
Britishadjective
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Everywhere. The phrase may be used alone, as in I've looked all over for that book , or The very thought of poison ivy makes me itch all over . In addition it can be used as a preposition, meaning “throughout,” as in The news spread all over town . [Early 1600s] Also see far and wide .
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In all respects, as in He is his Aunt Mary all over . Charles Lamb had this usage in a letter (1799) about a poem: “The last lines ... are Burns all over.” [Early 1700s]
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Also, all over again . Again from the beginning. For example, They're going to play the piece all over , or Do you mean you're starting all over again? [Mid-1500s]
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Also, all over with . Quite finished, completed, as in By the time I arrived the game was all over , or Now that she passed the test, her problems are all over with . This phrase uses over in the sense of “finished,” a usage dating from the 1300s. Also see all over but the shouting ; have it (all over) , def. 4.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"It was an aching sadness, an all-over weariness, a sudden disinterest in the world around me - in tennis, above all," she wrote.
From BBC • Sep. 3, 2022
It's the perfect, just-set icing on top of pastries, cookies, and cakes at your favorite bakeries — perhaps most identified as the all-over glaze atop petit fours.
From Salon • Dec. 19, 2021
Rather than the all-over, canvas-filling brush strokes favored by other abstract painters, Mitchell’s works were looser, gathered away from the edges.
From New York Times • Sep. 2, 2021
“We wanted to focus on classic characters like Elmo and the Count and do an edgier all-over print.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2019
Her neck and wrists were bare, and her hair was a mess—a pile, an all-over glob of red curls.
From "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
