Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 1.pdf/55

 All Smoke, Gammon and Pickles.--See Smoke.

All Sorts, subs. (common).--Explained by quotation.--See All nations.

/# 1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. vi. A counter perforated in elaborately-pricked patterns, like a convivial shroud, apparently for ornament, but really for the purpose of allowing the drainings, overflowings, and out-spillings of the gin-glasses to drop through, which, being collected with sundry washings, and a dash, perhaps, of fresh material, is, by the thrifty landlord, dispensed to his customers under the title Of ALL SORTS.

All Sorts of, adj. (American).--First rate; excellent. A phrase very common in the South and West, and used in many different ways. It carries with it the idea of smartness and chic, as, e.g., when applied to a woman, a horse, or a building.

Allspice, subs. (popular.)--A nickname for a grocer; the derivation is obvious.

All's Quiet on the Potomac, phr. (American).--A period of undisturbed rest, quiet enjoyment, or peaceful possession; a phrase dating from the Civil War, when its frequent repetition in the bulletins of the War Secretary made it familiar to the public, who quickly appropriated it in a metaphorical sense. It has since formed the refrain of many a song.

/# 1862. The Picket Guard. All quiet along the Potomac, they say, Except now and then a stray picket Is shot on his beat as he walks to and fro, By a rifleman hid in a thicket.

All T. H., adv. phr. (tailors cutters').--Said in praise or approval; a tailor's equivalent of a 1;[**typo?] all right; all there--of which last it is possibly an abbreviated form.

All the Caboose, adv. phr.--See Caboose.

All the Go, adv. phr. (common).--One of the innumerable superlatives of work-a-day English; quite up to the mark; in full demand; 'no deception, gents!'--See Go.

All There, adv. phr. (popular).--Up to the mark; first-rate; ready for any emergency; a phrase of general satisfaction and approval; also, in one's element.

/# 1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 220. 'He stayed in a place doing the grand and sucking the flats till the folks began to smoke him as not ALL THERE.'

1880. Punch, Aug. 7, p. 59. All there! Clerk {who has called to see the gas-meter). 'Is yours a wet, or a dry meter, madam?' Young Wife (who does not like to show ignorance). 'Well, it is rather damp, I'm afraid!'

1883. James Payn, Thicker than Water, ch. xx. It was his excusable boast, though expressed in somewhat vulgar language, that when anything was wanted he was 'all there.'

All the Shoot.--Equivalent to 'THE WHOLE BOILING' (q.v.).

All the Way Down, adv. phr. (popular).--Synonymous with complete adaptibility to the end in view; sometimes varied by 'UP TO THE KNOCKER,' or 'UP TO THE NINES.'

All to His Own Cheek.--See Cheek.

All to Pieces, adverbial phr. (common).--1. [Cf. Go to pieces.]