Old English all, eall, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch al and German all.

• A little Old English word found in a host of popular phrases. Although associated with the Second World War, the all-clear dates from the very beginning of the 20th century. It refers to a signal such as a siren that indicates enemy aircraft have left the area, making it safe to come out into the open from bomb shelters or other places of refuge. All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others comes from George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945) a satire in which the animals take over the farm, only to find the pigs become even worse masters. All done with mirrors means ‘achieved by trickery or illusion’. One of the earliest examples of the phrase comes from a 1908 play by G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) called Magic, about a conjuror working out how an effect might be created, but it probably goes back to 19th-century magicians. All human life is there was an advertising slogan used by British tabloid newspaper the News of the World in the 1950s. The phrase had been used earlier by the novelist Henry James (1843–1916) in The Madonna of the Future (1879). A maker of statuettes says of his wares, ‘Cats and monkeys—monkeys and cats—all human life is there!’ The first things to be described as all-singing, all-dancing were film musicals. Posters for Broadway Melody (1929) carried the slogan ‘All Talking All Singing All Dancing’. These days something ‘all-singing, all-dancing’ is generally an advanced computer or other gadget. The proverb all good things must come to an end dates back to the 15th century, usually in the form ‘All things must come to (or have) an end’. The inclusion of the word ‘good’ in the proverb appears to be a 20th-century development. The other ‘all’ proverb, all's well that ends well, is even older and was first recorded in the 14th century as ‘If the end is well, then is all well’.