All gay (thieves), a term to denote that the coast is clear, a variant of "all serene," all right. French thieves use the expression "tout est franco" in the same sense.
Having selected one house, at which James Hawes reported to the fourth man that it was all gay, which the detective, who was in hiding in a garden, understood to mean that no one was at home, the four men joined together near it.—The Globe.
All-get-out (American), an old Yankee expression. "Oh, get out!" appears to have suggested it. This is uttered very often when any person announces or says something extravagant. Whence the saying, "That beats all-get-out."
But hark! behold! to-morrer thou,
In deep revenge mayst dry thy tears,
I hev a plan which you'll allow
Beats all-git-out when it appears.
—The Ballad of Tim Zion Boggs.
All holiday at Peckham (popular) is said when there is nothing to eat. All holiday means no work, and Peckham is a play on "peck," food.
All hollow, hollow (old slang), completely, utterly. "I beat him all hollow at a race." Probably derived from wholly. All whole, or whole-and-all, heel en al, is a Dutch idiom; heel-all, the universe.
All in (racing) means that bets made on horses in the list are to stand whether the horse runs or not.
All in! (Stock Exchange), an expression used by men on 'Change when a market goes flat, and there is a general disposition to sell.
All in a pucker (common), in confusion; so hurriedly as to agitate and perplex. Women of the lower classes, especially when suddenly flustered and agitated, will declare themselves all in a pucker, and most frequently such a statement will be deemed sufficient qualification to justify a resort to the usual "pick-me-up."
All in fits (tailors). See Paralytic fit.
All mouth (American), a man who is a great talker, and only a talker, is said to be all mouth.
When one Congressman assaults another he generally hits him in the mouth, that being about all there is to strike at.—American Journal.
All my eye (popular), nonsense, untrue. Some philologists have suggested—though they have not adopted—a derivation from the Welsh al mi hivy, it is very tedious, i.e., it is all nonsense. It seems far more probable that it is a contraction of the phrase "there is as much of it as there is in all my eye," the words being made more forcible by closing one of the organs of vision. To express dissent from any statement, or a refusal to comply with a request, French slang has the corresponding term mon œil! which is usually accompanied by a knowing wink and
