A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

all at once • at once
all at once —suddenly and abruptly: There comes over him,
all at once, a sort of cold, creepy shudder.
at once —
1
. immediately: She doesn’t know where he is...
otherwise she would drive to his address at once. 2. simulta-
neously; at the same time: Fire service says we cannot be in
two places at once.
all but • anything but
all but—almost; nearly: We’re all but finished now. We’ll
be ready in a moment.
anything but—not at all: My father was anything but pleased
when he heard my story.
all day and every day • all the days of one’s life
all day and every day —during the whole of one day and for
a number of days afterwards: We had glorious weather, sun-
shine all day and every day.
– 13 –
all day and every day

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all the days of one’s life —for as long as one will live, or has
lived: They had known only oppression and bitter poverty all
the days of their lives.
all dressed up • dressed up
all dressed up —dressed formally; dressed in one’s best
clothes: She was glad that she was all dressed up and had done
her hair that morning.
dressed up —
1
. = all dressed up: We know little about Mary’s
appearance (the only description we have is when she is dressed
up for her daughter’s wedding). 2. wearing fancy clothing;
disguised: There was a carnival parade in the city. Annabel
was dressed up as a clown and Andy as Zorro.
all eyes • all my eye
all eyes —(predic., coll.) watching eagerly and attentively:
She was all eyes as I unwrapped the package.
all my eye —(UK sl.) utter nonsense (also: all my eye and Betty
Martin): I told him about a secret process, but he knew it was
all my eye.