all there

English

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Adjective

(idiomatic) Mentally competent; not absent-minded or insane.
Is he all there?

I don't think he's all there...

I think he's not all there...
- 1885, Amelia E. Barr, chapter 1, in Jan Vedder's Wife:
  A suspicion that “he was not all there,” and therefore “one of God’s bairns,” had insured him, during his long orphanage, the food, and clothes, and shelter, necessary for life; but no one had given him love.
- 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Episode 15:
  His submission is that he is of Mongolian extraction and irresponsible for his actions. Not all there, in fact.
- 2011, Julie Keith, The Devil Out There, →ISBN, Part 1 (Google preview):
  [S]he smiled at me in a such a silly way, I thought to wonder if she was all there.
Used other than with a figurative or idiomatic meaning: see all,‎ there.

Usage notes

Often used in the negative construction, "not all there", to mean mentally incompetent, of low intelligence, or absent-minded.

Translations

positive form, "all there": mentally competent

Kurdish: temam, biaqil

negative form, "not all there": mentally incompetent

French: (colloquial) beubeu (fr), (colloquial) bête à bouffer du foin (fr), (informal) bête à pleurer (fr), imbécile (fr)
Icelandic: ekki með öllum mjalla

Kurdish: netemam
Russian: не все до́ма (ru) (ne vse dóma) /lit: not everyone at home/

Anagrams

hall tree, hear tell

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