Chapter All Fools' Day to Alliteration of A by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

All Fools' Day to Alliteration

All Fools' Day (April 1st). (See April Fool .)

All Fours A game of cards; so called from the four points that are at stake, viz. High, Low, Jack, and Game.

To go on all fours is to crawl about on knees and hands like a little child.

It does not go on all fours means it does not suit in every minute particular; it does not fully satisfy the demand. It limps as a quadruped which does not go on all its four legs. Omnis comparatio claudicat (all similes limp).

"No simile can go on all-fours." Macaulay.

All-hallown Summer The second summer, or the summerly time which sets in about All-Hallows-tide. Called by the French, L'été de St. Martin (from October 9th to November 11th). Also called St. Luke's Summer (St. Luke's Day is October 18th). The Indian summer. Shakespeare uses the term -

"Farewell, thou latter spring; farewell, All-hallown Summer!" 1 Henry IV.i.2.

All Hallow's Day (November 1st). The French call it. Toussaint , which we have translated All Saints' Day. Hallow-mas is All-Saints' festival. (Anglo-Saxon, hálig, but Hálig-mónáth was september, and Hálig-doeg was simply a Holy-day)

All Hallows' Eve The Scotch tradition is, that those born on All Hallows' Eve have the gift of double sight, and commanding powers over spirits. Mary Avenel, on this supposition, is made to see the White Lady, invisible to less gifted visions.

"Being born on All-hallows' Eve, she (Mary Avenel) was supposed to be invested with power over the invisible world." (See Sir Walter Scott: The Monastery, chap. xiv.)

All in all He is all in all to me, that is, the dearest object of my affection. God shall be all in all means all creation shall be absorbed or gathered into God. The phrase is also used adverbially, meaning altogether, as: -

"Take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again." Shakespeare: Hamlet, ii. 2.

All in the Wrong A drama, by Murphy, borrowed from Destouches, the French dramatist.

All is lost that is put in a riven dish. In Latin, "Pertusum quiequid infunditur in dolium, perit." (It is no use helping the insolvent.)

All is not gold that glitters or glisters Trust not to appearances. In Latin, "Nulla fides fronti."

"Not all that tempts your wandering eyes
And heedless hearts is lawful prize,
Nor all that glisters gold."
Gray: The Cat and the Gold Fish.

All my Eye (and) Betty Martin All nonsense. Joe Miller says that a Jack Tar went into a foreign church, where he heard some one uttering these words - Ah! mihi, beate Martine (Ah! [grant] me, Blessed Martin). On giving an account of his adventure, Jack said he could not make much out of it, but it seemed to him very like "All my eye and Betty Martin." Grose has "Mihi beatæ Martinis" [sic ]. The shortened phrase, "All my eye," is very common.

All one The same in effect. Answers the same purpose.

All-overish A familiar expression meaning, all over ill at ease. "I feel all-overish," not exactly ill, but uncomfortable all over. The precursor of a fever, influenza, ague, etc.