The Collaborative International Dictionary
At \At\, prep. [AS. [ae]t; akin to OHG. az, Goth., OS., & Icel. at, Sw. [*a]t, Dan. & L. ad.] Primarily, this word expresses the relations of presence, nearness in place or time, or direction toward; as, at the ninth hour; at the house; to aim at a mark. It is less definite than in or on; at the house may be in or near the house. From this original import are derived all the various uses of at. It expresses:
A relation of proximity to, or of presence in or on, something; as, at the door; at your shop; at home; at school; at hand; at sea and on land.
The relation of some state or condition; as, at war; at peace; at ease; at your service; at fault; at liberty; at risk; at disadvantage.
The relation of some employment or action; occupied with; as, at engraving; at husbandry; at play; at work; at meat (eating); except at puns.
The relation of a point or position in a series, or of degree, rate, or value; as, with the thermometer at 80[deg]; goods sold at a cheap price; a country estimated at 10,000 square miles; life is short at the longest.
The relations of time, age, or order; as, at ten o'clock; at twenty-one; at once; at first.
The relations of source, occasion, reason, consequence, or effect; as, at the sight; at this news; merry at anything; at this declaration; at his command; to demand, require, receive, deserve, endure at your hands.
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Relation of direction toward an object or end; as, look at it; to point at one; to aim at a mark; to throw, strike, shoot, wink, mock, laugh at any one.
At all, At home, At large, At last, At length, At once, etc. See under All, Home, Large, Last (phrase and syn.), Length, Once, etc.
At it, busily or actively engaged.
At least. See Least and However.
At one. See At one, in the Vocabulary.
Syn: In, At.
Usage: When reference to the interior of any place is made prominent in is used. It is used before the names of countries and cities (esp. large cities); as, we live in America, in New York, in the South. At is commonly employed before names of houses, institutions, villages, and small places; as, Milton was educated at Christ's College; money taken in at the Customhouse; I saw him at the jeweler's; we live at Beachville. At may be used before the name of a city when it is regarded as a mere point of locality. ``An English king was crowned at Paris.''
--Macaulay. ``Jean Jacques Rousseau was born at Geneva, June, 28, 1712.''
--J. Morley. In regard to time, we say at the hour, on the day, in the year; as, at 9 o'clock, on the morning of July 5th, in the year 1775.
All \All\, n. The whole number, quantity, or amount; the entire thing; everything included or concerned; the aggregate; the whole; totality; everything or every person; as, our all is at stake. Death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all. --Shak. All that thou seest is mine. --Gen. xxxi. 43. Note: All is used with of, like a partitive; as, all of a thing, all of us. After all, after considering everything to the contrary; nevertheless. All in all, a phrase which signifies all things to a person, or everything desired; (also adverbially) wholly; altogether. Thou shalt be all in all, and I in thee, Forever. --Milton. Trust me not at all, or all in all. --Tennyson. All in the wind (Naut.), a phrase denoting that the sails are parallel with the course of the wind, so as to shake. All told, all counted; in all. And all, and the rest; and everything connected. ``Bring our crown and all.'' --Shak. At all.
In every respect; wholly; thoroughly. [Obs.] ``She is a shrew at al(l).''
--Chaucer.-
A phrase much used by way of enforcement or emphasis, usually in negative or interrogative sentences, and signifying in any way or respect; in the least degree or to the least extent; in the least; under any circumstances; as, he has no ambition at all; has he any property at all? ``Nothing at all.''
--Shak. ``If thy father at all miss me.''
--1 Sam. xx. 6.Over all, everywhere. [Obs.]
--Chaucer.Note: All is much used in composition to enlarge the meaning, or add force to a word. In some instances, it is completely incorporated into words, and its final consonant is dropped, as in almighty, already, always: but, in most instances, it is an adverb prefixed to adjectives or participles, but usually with a hyphen, as, all-bountiful, all-glorious, allimportant, all-surrounding, etc. In others it is an adjective; as, allpower, all-giver. Anciently many words, as, alabout, alaground, etc., were compounded with all, which are now written separately.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"in any way," mid-14c., originally used only affirmatively (as in I Sam. XX:6 in KJV: "If thy father at all misse me"); now it is overwhelmingly used only in the negative or in interrogatory expressions, or in literary attempts at Irish dialect.
Wiktionary
prep.phr. (context idiomatic English) (non-gloss definition: Indicating degree, quantity or frequency greater than zero): to the slightest degree, in any way, somewhat, rather.
WordNet
adv. in the slightest degree or in any respect; "Are you at all interested? No, not at all"; "was not in the least unfriendly" [syn: in the least, the least bit]
Wikipedia
At All is the tenth album by the actor Viggo Mortensen, released in 2008. The album was recorded before his last album Time Waits for Everyone of 2007 and released on the label TDRS Music along with his final album.
The album features the eighth collaboration with avant-garde guitarist Buckethead, plus producer and owner of the label TDRS Music, Travis Dickerson in one song. The rest of the songs are played by Viggo Mortensen alone, according to Mortensen when referring to the album, he said:
Usage examples of "at all".
One which has nothing at all to do with the contents of that particular file.
I had the right to not tell them something at all much better than they will my having lied about it.
In two cases, we drew no response at all, which leads us to suspect that in those two cases there were picket forces hiding in hyper which never got called in because they never saw a threat.
I have to tell you that I, personally, am completely satisfied Haven had nothing at all to do with the assassination attempt on Torch.
Frustratingly incomplete as his observations had been, his had been the only eyes located to watch the Junction at all for Second Fleet.
Legislaturalists who were still alive at all, so she supposed that was something of a wash.
There was, quite literally, nothing at all Kuzak could do at this point except watch other people execute her orders.
He sensed the confusion of his flag bridge crew, and this time, he had no answer at all for them.
Not one of the women in the room with her had ever been mated at all, nor borne a child, nor did they know what it was to raise one.
The world stretched away before them, a vast empty desolation, open in all directions as far as Hresh could see: there were no walls, there was nothing at all to confine them.
It seemed to him almost that he had not slept at all, but he could remember dreams: visions of faces floating in midair, and a woman with seven dreadful red eyes, and a land where teeth grew from the ground.
They seemed to have no limbs or bodies at all, but were mere immobile giant heads with dull staring eyes.
They were stumbling forward in the dark, guessing at all they must do.
Of them all only Harruel bothered to speak to Hresh at all, looking down from his vast height and gruffly wishing him success at his tasks.
They used their sensing-organs simply as a tail, like any trivial wild creature, as though that organ had no powers at all except that of allowing them to swing through the treetops.