English Dictionary: all the same | by the DICT Development Group |
2 results for all the same | |
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
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From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
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 [bd]all to rent,[b8] [bd]all to break,[b8] [bd]all-to frozen,[b8] 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 [bd]all forlorn,[b8] 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, [bd]The vail of the temple was to rent:[b8] and of Judas, [bd]He was hanged and to-burst the middle:[b8] i. e., burst in two, or asunder. {All along}. See under {Along}. {All and some}, individually and collectively, one and all. [Obs.] [bd]Displeased all and some.[b8] --Fairfax. {All but}. (a) Scarcely; not even. [Obs.] --Shak. (b) Almost; nearly. [bd]The fine arts were all but proscribed.[b8] --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. [bd]There they [certain phenomena] remain rooted all the same, whether we recognize them or not.[b8] --J. C. Shairp. [bd]But Rugby is a very nice place all the same.[b8] --T. Arnold. -- See also under {All}, n. |