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

all-overs • overalls
all-overs —(coll.) a feeling of great unease or extreme nerv-
ousness: We’re out of sorts for want of a smoke. We’ve got the
all-overs, haven’t us, deary?
overalls —a one-piece garment worn to protect a worker’s
clothes; loose-fitting work pants with shoulder straps: A man
dressed in overalls came out. I caught a glimpse of machin-
ery…
all-red line • thin red line
all-red line —(UK hist., also: all-red route) a telegraph line
lying throughout in British territory: Green tells of Fleming’s
advocacy of a Pacific Cable and the All-Red Line.
thin red line —(UK) 
1
. (dated) the British army (used with
the implication of its supposed invincibility): Napoleon Bona-
parte soon found that in the “thin red line” he had more than
met his match. 2. the heroic resistance of few against many:
England’s thin red line of intellectual royalists is being overrun
by “progressive” reformers who sabotage old-fashioned aca-
demic virtues.
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
phrase thin line— a significantly blurred borderline between two
things: There is often only a thin line between a successful
launch and devastating destruction. Rockets are an unforgiv-
ing technology.
See also: ragged blue line / thin blue line.
all-red route • red route
all-red route —(UK hist., also: all-red line) a telegraph line
lying throughout in British territory: Because all of these lo-
cations were part of the British Empire, the cable was also
known as the “All Red Route” (as red was the color associated
with Britain).
all dressed up
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red route —(UK) a proposed expressway marked by a red
line along the edge of the road: The idea of the red route as a
way of easing traffic congestion was devised by a group of
Conservative politicians called the red route group.