(informal) scattered in every direction, all over the
place. They're all over the
shop.
- Studying Introduction (18 June 64) (informal) scattered about the
place,
spread out in every direction;
following an erratic and undefined
course; in a
state of
confusion. The exact
origin of the
phrase "all over the
shop" is unknown, but it likely comes from a
slang term in the
late 1800s, used in boxing, "to
knock him all over the
shop." (A "
shop" being usually a
place of
business or a
place where one's ordinary
occupation is carried out. "
Shop" in this sense meant the boxing
ring, or the
place in which the "
work" of boxing is done.) When a fighter was "knocked all over the
shop," he was knocked all over the
ring, knocked against the ropes at the side of the
ring and knocked into a confused
state. Hence "all over the
shop" came to mean "
spread out everywhere and scattered in every direction, in a
state of
confusion or disarray." And they were good civilizations as they went the
Roman-
Briton civilization, the Danish civilization that was here, the Saxon civilization here-all these things terribly
different-the
Norman civilization that was here. They're all over the
shop.
(colloquial) scattered in every direction, all over the
place; everywhere.