All-purpose
for every purpose:
an all-purpose detergent.
Contemporary Examples
But the pope thought of him more as an all-purpose authority on anything scientific or technical.
Benjamin Franklin, America’s First Storm Chaser Lee Sandlin April 13, 2013
This all-purpose response would also allow one to deny that there is a missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777.
Evangelicals Still Don’t Know What to Do With the Big Bang Karl W. Giberson March 22, 2014
But college is not like some sort of all-purpose herbal supplement that cures bunions and also colic; it teaches specific skills.
Sorry, Kids, No High School Diplomas Need Apply Megan McArdle February 19, 2013
Or maybe we are just whiny wimps, an all-purpose explanation for every descent-of-man phenomenon that never is far off the mark.
Blame Climate Change for Your Terrible Seasonal Allergies Kent Sepkowitz May 13, 2014
He had hanged himself with 550 cord, an all-purpose green string that looks like a shoelace and can hold 550 pounds.
Suicidal Soldiers Elspeth Reeve May 10, 2009
Historical Examples
Runkel’s all-purpose Cocoa is the finest quality chocolate, already a powder, all ready to use!
Mrs. Wilson’s Cook Book Mary A. Wilson
It would be nice if we could report that they are fit for all-purpose service, on a wide range of planets.
The Hunters William Morrison
An all-purpose goat’s milk, Parmesan type, eaten sliced when young, grated when old.
The Complete Book of Cheese Robert Carlton Brown
The carabao, or water buffalo, is the one all-purpose farm animal.
The Old World and Its Ways William Jennings Bryan
They were sitting in all-purpose Lounges, arranged in a circle.
Subjectivity Norman Spinrad
adjective
useful for many things
adj.
1877, from all + purpose (n.).
Read Also:
- All quiet on the western front
a novel (1929) by Erich Maria Remarque. (1929) A German novel by Erich Maria Remarque about the horrors and futility of World War I. Note: A film adaptation of the novel appeared in 1930. Widely considered the first major antiwar motion picture of the modern era, it won the Academy Award for best picture. A […]
- Rage
angry fury; violent anger (sometimes used in combination): a speech full of rage; incidents of road rage. a fit of violent anger: Her rages usually don’t last too long. fury or violence of wind, waves, fire, disease, etc. violence of feeling, desire, or appetite: the rage of thirst. a violent desire or passion. ardor; fervor; […]
- All reet
all reet interjection An exclamation of approval: ”All reat” is the rug-cutters’ way of saying ”all right” (1930s+)
- All right already
interjection enough!; hold on!; yes, now! Examples All right already! I will serve dinner. modifier Having to do with basketball: a hoop noun A finger ring: the old hoop on that finger (1859+ fr underworld); The basketball net or basket; bucket (1930s Basketball) A basketball goal; bucket: He made six hoops last night (1940s+ Basketball) […]
- All right with one
Also, all right by one . Agreeable to someone. For example, If you want to practice now, that’s all right with me . Although all right alone has signified acquiescence much longer (see all right , def. 5), the addition of with someone (or, sometimes, by someone ) dates from the mid-1900s.