subs. (old colloquial).—A whole; a tout-ensemble.
1667. WATERHOUSE, Fire of London, 141. Her Congregations, Her Citizens, Her ALTOGETHER has been as orderly …
1674. N. FAIRFAX, A Treatise of the Bulk and Selvedge of the World, 33. We only call … God’s All-fillingness an ALTOGETHER, to loosen it from any thing of sundership.
1865. Pall Mall Gazette, 26 June, 9/2. The deft touch of American fingers [the book-making], the keen sight, and judgment, and faculty of American eye and brain, impart a finish and an ALTOGETHER (this is much better than to steal tout-ensemble from the wicked Emperor) which John Bull s big thumby-fingers can in no wie attain unto.
The ALTOGETHER, subs. phr. (artists’). Nudity; ‘in the ALTOGETHER nude’: popularised by Du Maurier’s novel and play, Trilby.
