all-American

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English

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WOTD – 4 July 2019

Etymology

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From all +‎ American.[1]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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all-American (not comparable)

  1. Comprising things that are wholly from the United States of America; completely made in the United States.
    • 1922 December, “The New ‘All-American’ Audio Frequency Transformers [advertisement]”, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Radio News, volume 4, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, →OCLC, page 1221:
      "All-American" Transformers. Perfected first, from the stand-point of correct engineering, by proper turns radio, impedance and shielding—then, in our latest models, given the finishing touches of outward beauty that the more critical eye demanded. […] Your dealer has "All-American" Transformers.
    • [2001], James West, chapter 8, in The End of an Era: My Story of the L-1011, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 71:
      The DC-10 with a GE engine would be wrongfully touted as an all-American airplane. The GE engine was part French. The DC-10 had Italian fuselage sections. There was little awareness of the subcontracts with offshore suppliers.
    • 2009, William J. Palmer, “Neo-spin”, in The Films of the Nineties: The Decade of Spin, New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, page 218:
      One month director John Woo might be directing Jackie Chan in Rumble in the Bronx (1996), and the next an all-American cast in Broken Arrow (1999) or Face Off (2000),[sic] both with John Travolta.
    • 2018 June 5, Jonah Engel Bromwich, Vanessa Friedman, Matthew Schneier, “Kate Spade, whose handbags carried women into adulthood, is dead at 55”, in The New York Times‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 June 2018:
      Her name [Kate Spade] became a shorthand for the cute, clever bags that were an instant hit with cosmopolitan women in the early stages of their careers and, later, young girls — status symbols of a more attainable, all-American sort than a Fendi clutch or Chanel bag.
  2. Regarded as embodying the ideal qualities of the United States; (specifically) of a person: courageous, heroic; honest, wholesome, etc.
    • 1968, Richard M[ercer] Dorson, “Folklore in Relation to American Studies”, in Ray B[roadus] Browne, Richard H. Crowder, Virgil L. Lokke, William T. Stafford, editors, Frontiers of American Culture, [West Lafayette, Ind.]: Purdue University Studies, →OCLC, page 191:
      The [Davy] Crockett revival of the 1950's engineered by Walt Disney presented an all-American boy scout type as a mass-culture hero.
    • 2010, Kathleen C. Winters, “Off and Running”, in Amelia Earhart: The Turbulent Life of an American Icon, New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 89:
      Amelia [Earhart] looked the part of an all-American girl—pretty, confident yet slightly demure, exhibiting not a trace of brashness.
    • 2012, Larzer Ziff, “America as Middle Class: Adolescence, Frank Merriwell, Penrod”, in All-American Boy (Discovering America; 4), Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 95:
      Tom Sawyer may have been called an all-American boy because his thoughts and actions were typical of the thoughts and actions of all American boys.
    • 2014 March 26, Matthew Quaine Thompkins, “Hide the Gun”, in The Travels of the Black Raven, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 249:
      His name was Nate, and he was the definition of an all-American small-town guy. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and wore a leather jacket with an eagle on the back. He was tall and had a strong, confident walk.
  3. (US, chiefly sports) Of a person or a team, or some other thing: regarded as the best in the United States.
    He was an all-American basketball player last year.
    • 1915 July, “Vanity Fair’s All-American College Basketball Team”, in Frank Crowninshield, editor, Vanity Fair, volume 4, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Vanity Fair Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 30:
      After having conducted a country-wide poll of experts, Vanity Fair has chosen a truly All-American Collegiate Basketball Team. The nine picked is the result of the combined opinions of sporting editors, college coaches, graduate managers and old players from Cambridge, to Palo Alto and from Minneapolis to Atlanta.
    • 1922 March 30, W[illiam] J[ames] Monilaw, “Papers Read at the Annual Convention of the Middle West Society of Physical Education, March 30, 31, April 1, 1922: President’s Address”, in James Huff McCurdy, editor, American Physical Education Review, volume XXVIII, number 2 (number 184 overall), Springfield, Mass.: American Physical Education Association, published February 1923, →OCLC, page 47, column 2:
      I would rather a boy were a fine moral character, 5 feet 3 inches tall and unable to run a 100 yards in 20 seconds, than to see him 6 feet tall, weighing 180 pounds, an all-American full-back with a set of morals that disgraces his family and community.
    • 2012, Larzer Ziff, “America as Middle Class: Adolescence, Frank Merriwell, Penrod”, in All-American Boy (Discovering America; 4), Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 95:
      In 1888 [Walter] Camp selected the first All-American team, an exercise that has continued into the twenty-first century. Each member of the team is chosen because he is the best of all players nationwide at playing his particular position.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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all-American (plural all-Americans)

  1. A person or thing regarded as embodying the ideal qualities of the United States of America; (specifically) a person from the United States who is courageous, heroic, honest, wholesome, etc.
    He was regarded by the other soldiers as an all-American for his courage in battle.
    • 2013, Eulalia Wycoff, Rajeev Sooreea, “How ‘American’ are ‘All-American’ Brands?: A Case of Gap, Inc. as ‘Made in America’ Brand”, in Anshu Saxena Arora, editor, International Business Realisms: Globalizing Locally Responsive and Internationally Connected Business Disciplines (International Marketing and Management Research), New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 80–81:
      When asked whether Gap, Inc. would still gain acceptance as an "all-American" if its brand manufacturing process was switched significantly abroad, given its customer loyalty and the reputation that it has already established, respondents said the brand would probably no longer be seen as all-American, which would be detrimental to the brand since it still has a stronger presence in the American market than its overseas market.
  2. (US, chiefly sports) A person or a team, or some other thing, regarded as the best in the United States.
    • 1930, “Athletics”, in George E. Leonard, editor, Michiganensian of 1930, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Published by the Senior Class of the University of Michigan, →OCLC, page 191:
      [Bennie] Oosterbaan won letters in football, basketball, and baseball, and was selected as an All-American end for three successive years.
    • 2002, “Standing Tall”, in Purdue Reamer Club, compiler, A University of Tradition: The Spirit of Purdue, West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, →ISBN, page 92:
      Among the players he [Ward Lambert] coached were the legendary John Wooden, a three-time All-American; three-time All-American Charles "Stretch" Murphy; and All-Americans Don White, Ray "Candy" Miller, George Spradling, Norm Cotton, Emmett Lowery, Robert Kessler, Jewell Young, and Paul Hoffman.
    • 2012, Larzer Ziff, “America as Middle Class: Adolescence, Frank Merriwell, Penrod”, in All-American Boy (Discovering America; 4), Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 95:
      [T]he All-American [American football player] in [Walter] Camp's sense is not typical but superior, the best in America at performing the specific role he has been assigned. An All-American is one-eleventh of a whole.
    • 2014, Paul Hornung, Chuck Carlson, “Under the Golden Dome”, in The Paul Hornung Scrapbook, Chicago, Ill.: Triumph Books, →ISBN, page 43:
      We lost but that was probably the game that meant the most to me. It might have made me an All-American. I was named All-American that year and the actress Kim Novak was our host for the All-American luncheon and dinners. God, she was so gorgeous.
    • 2014, Scott Pitoniak, “The Legend of 22”, in 100 Things Syracuse Fans should Know & Do before They Die, Chicago, Ill.: Triumph Books, →ISBN, page 243:
      In lacrosse, the legacy of greatness belongs to No. 22. And unlike football's 44, lacrosse's 22 is still in circulation and still churning out All-Americans.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “all-American, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2012; “all-American”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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