pron.
1. A combination of EVERY (sense 1) and THING. As in anything, something, nothing, the subst. element has usually no definable meaning, the compound being equivalent to a neuter absol. use of the adj. The distributive sense etymologically belonging to the word is often absent, its force being merely collective; hence it is the current substitute for all (absol.), all things, which in most contexts are now somewhat formal. Often followed by adj., as everything good = ‘all that is good.’ Formerly written as two words; this is now rare, exc. where the two words are used without modification of sense.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 398, Prol. In noble corage oghte been areste, And weyen euerything by equytee.
c. 1440. Generydes, 4. Wyse and manly preuyd in euery thyng.
1567. J. Sanford, trans. Epictetus, 2 b. In euery thing … which thou louest, thou must diligently consider the qualitie.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. vii. 166. Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans euery thing.
a. 1672. Wilkins, Nat. Relig. (1676), I. ii. 12. Every thing is endowed with such a natural Principle, whereby it is necessarily inclined to promote its own preservation and well-being.
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., I. 548. Zimri … was everything by starts and nothing long.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 180, ¶ 8. Among the sons of learning, many seem to have thought of everything but themselves.
1796. Jane Austen, Pride & Prej., xxvii. Every thing however went on smoothly.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 567. She had not … his partiality for every thing Dutch and for every thing Calvinistic.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. ix. 572. The government [in France] is believed to see every thing, know every thing, and provide for every thing.
1879. M. Arnold, Guide to Eng. Lit., Mixed Ess., 180. Everything, surely, depends upon what the lesson was.
b. as predicate, characterizing something as of supreme importance. colloq.
Mod. Be sure you are in good time; that is everything.
2. sb. rare in sing.; in pl. humorously. Things of every kind. Also (nonce-use) quasi-adj.; and in comb., everything-maker.
1797. Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Beggar Girl (1813), V. 180. Miss Walsingham was … the most accomplished, the most sensible, the most every thing woman could be.
1802. Bentham, Wks. (1843), X. 390. It is against my habits, my principles, my everything, to propose it to him.
a. 1845. Hood, To Mr. Malthus, iii. There are … too many everything-makers.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. iii. But to be sure there were rum everythings.
1884. Ruskin, in Pall Mall Gaz., 3 Dec., 3/2. Patent everythings going of themselves everywhere.
