I have a question for Cecil and/or one of his teeming minions. I was doing the Sunday crossword puzzle and ran across the phrase “all in” as being a synonym for spent or tired. Being a crossword veteran, I knew the answer, but I can’t recall anyone ever actually using that phrase outside of the crossword realm. Does anyone know the origin of the phrase “all in”?
Lange in American Slang suggest that the original meaning probably referred to “having put all of one’s money in the pot”, but alas, there are no cites before 1907 or so. He cites “done for, …used up, …tired out” as being traceable in print to 1868.
Many of his cites are from 1907-1920, and come from horse racing publications and National Police Gazette, perhaps indicating that the phrase didn’t exactly roll off the lips of literary giants.
I guess having all ones money in the pot would coincide nicely with “spent” in the sense of being out of money, but the clues are usually in reference to being “spent” in the sense of tired. I suppose that “exhausted” make a nice transition between the two meanings too. At any rate, thanks very much for your response/
Correction: Why I said “Lange”, I have no idea. J.E. Lighter is the compiler of the wonderful Random House Historical Dlctionary of American Slang, Vol I.
That sounds like a reference that might be worth purchasing. Thanks again for the info.
In poker, you go “all in” when you don’t have enough money left to cover the current bet. Say you need to pay $10 to stay in, but you only have $5–you put in your five and call “all-in”. Your five and $5 of everyone else’s bet goes in the main pot, and the rest starts a new pot. Everyone else keeps playing, betting into the new pot.
The winner out of all the others who stayed in the game gets the side pot. If you beat him, you get the main pot; if not, you’re out of the game.
This happens at the end of the night, so that might explain the connection to “spent” or “tired”.
Dr. J
If memory serves, P.G. Wodehouse used the term in a 1914 novel, meaning exhausted. I assumed it was a Britishism.
The novel is Psmith, Journalist.
The fat guy in “The Full Monty” says it to his wife in the bed scene when he’s giving up on life. I always thought it was a Britishism, anyway.
Actually, no. Now that I come to think of it, it was an earlier Wodehouse novel, Psmith And The City. It was published in 1910.