Meanings
nounall the world and his wife pl (plural only)
- colloquialpluralplural onlyEverybody imaginable.
Origin
From Polite Conversation by Jonathan Swift, 1731.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
all the world and his wife. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/all%20the%20world%20and%20his%20wife
MLA
“all the world and his wife.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/all%20the%20world%20and%20his%20wife. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “all the world and his wife,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/all%20the%20world%20and%20his%20wife.
Source: all the world and his wife on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.