Meanings
- AustraliaUKinformalAll over the place.
While witness was in the shop, a gentleman came running in, and retched all over the shop. He cried out to the boy, "What have you given me here?"
1823, Edmund Burke, “Chronicle, March 1822”, in The Annual Register, or a view of the history, politics, and literature, of the year 1822, volume 64, page 521 more example
When Cummings was asked if he blamed MPs for the abuse, he replied: “The MPs said we will have a referendum, we will respect the result and then they spent three years swerving all over the shop.
2019 September 26, “Dominic Cummings: delivering Brexit only way to solve abuse of MPs”, in The Guardian, →ISSNSynonyms: all over the ballpark, all over the gaff, all over the lot, all over the show
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseAll over the place.
Cite this entry
all over the shop. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/all%20over%20the%20shop
“all over the shop.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/all%20over%20the%20shop. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “all over the shop,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/all%20over%20the%20shop.
Source: all over the shop on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.