all-over
adjective
covering the entire surface
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all-over
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all over
all over
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 .
all-over
Britishadjective
all over
Idioms
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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.
See Examples For:
But this is Image Magazine, so I will fearlessly match our readers’ freak and suggest this wild set from Brain Dead with a trippy pseudo-camo all-over print.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2025
“If you decide to make a big statement with an all-over colored tile, let that be the hero and think about how other elements in the room support that hero,” she says.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 13, 2022
Lorraine, from Burnage, south Manchester, was eventually diagnosed with degenerative disc disease, osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia - a condition which causes all-over body pain and extreme tiredness.
From BBC ● May 11, 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
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
In the wake of their DNA test results, the family was all over the media.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
The Liuzzo family was harassed for their mother’s activism even after her death, but the event galvanized activists all over the country, becoming one impetus for Congress to finally pass the landmark 1965 legislation.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Wildberries employs tens of thousands of people across Russia, with warehouses and pickup locations all over the massive country -- reaching even remote areas of Russia.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
The Covid pandemic, which drew people from all over the U.S. to Florida, and the state’s growing affordability problems turbocharged development in Lehigh Acres, said Mike Darda, a real-estate agent with Compass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Every Sunday Betsie would scour the papers, British, French, and German as well as our own, since the radio brought in stations from all over Europe, and plan the week’s program of concerts and recitals.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
