all hands
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
The nautical term for the whole of the crew.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “all hands” mean?
The nautical term for the whole of the crew.
Is “all hands” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.