all the way, adv. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

all the way adv.

1. completely.

1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 27 Mar. 2nd sect. 10/4: Tommy Burns tells how he beat Mike [Schreck] all the way, and he concludes his article [...] by saying :- ‘Imagine my disgust when Mr. Referee Pollock declared it a draw’.
1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 384: All The Way. To the bitter end; to any limit.
1953		L. Durst Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 6: Kitties pick up on this riff by C. It’s a gas, righteous beats and upstate muggin makes this cool Jim all the way uptown, let’s dig.
c.1953		Babs Gonzales ‘Manhattan Fable’ 🎵 My man Eddie, he dug her all the way.
1960		Baltimore Sun (MD) Sun. Mag. 4 Dec. 9/1: Bugsy Mitchell was a dinglebit, a skiz who was with it all the way.
1962		(con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 427: She’s aces, mytes, and she’s full quid all the way.
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 30: Jess, you’re Joe College, all the way.
1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 7: all the way [...] ‘The bitch cute, man; all the way cute.’.
1996		(con. 1949) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 211: She’s all the way hopped.
2002		G. Pelecanos Hell to Pay 117: Both of them turned cold and all the way hard.
2019		N. Walker Cherry 8: Things get better, they get worse. Then one day you’re all the way thrown out, before you ever knew it was that serious.

2. (US) of a hamburger, occas. hot dog, with a full complement of condiments and garnishes; similarly used of other dishes on a menu, i.e. served as written, without ‘holding’ or substituting any item.

1966		in Newark Advocate (OH) 21 May 3/3–4: all the way — French-fried potatoes with eggs.
2002		Carteret Community College (NC) Campus Grill menu All the way includes: Mushrooms, onions & peppers Choice of Swiss or American Cheese.
2002		Montgomery Advertiser (AL) 16 Jul 🌐 Hot dogs are obviously the main attraction here. Nestled in a soft white bun and dressed ‘all the way’ with sweet onions, mustard and Chris’ special sauce, they are delicious.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 46: [He] ordered hash browns all the way.

In phrases

go all the way (v.) (also go the whole way)

1. of a man, to have sexual intercourse; of a woman, to be willing to permit this.

1924		P. Marks Plastic Age 151: ‘Wonder if Janet would have gone the whole way,’ flitted across his mind.
1959		Murtagh & Harris Who Live In Shadow (1960) 29: Howard wanted me to go all the way. I said, ‘When I get married, man.’.
1966		P. Willmott Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 56: I’ve been all the way with girls twice.
1978		R. Caron Go-Boy! 63: I made another date with Maria thinking [...] this time I was going to go all the way.
1983		(con. 1950s) D. Nobbs Second From Last in the Sack Race 287: He ended up having fantasies about going the whole way with Maureen Abberley.
1995		A. Heckerling Clueless [film script] Actually, going all the way is like a really big decision. I can’t believe I was so caprecious about it. Dee, I almost had sex with him.
2003		T. Dorsey Stingray Shuffle 29: You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but Johnny had never gone all the way.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Coorparoo Blues [ebook] ‘Big deal! I can get that off any Yank – and not have to go all the way, neither!’.

2. to commit oneself completely; to be totally successful.

1930		D. Hammett Maltese Falcon (1965) 384: ‘You know I’m willing to go all the way with you all the time. [...] But I got a hunch you ain’t going all the way with me’.
1949		W.R. Burnett Asphalt Jungle in Four Novels (1984) 180: Gus’ll go all the way for him.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 49: People didn’t realise that it took something extra to go all the way with another guy’s life.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 20: I’m going to go all the way.

3. of a male prostitute, to take on the ‘active’ role in oral intercourse.

1965

A. James America’s Homosexual Underground 15: He takes pride in the fact that he has never ‘gone all the way.’ That is, he has never reciprocated in oral intercourse [...] he prefers to think of himself as ‘passive.’.

4. (US gay) to indulge in anal intercourse, rather than merely fellatio.

2005

E. White My Lives 175: We’re all suck queens but they [i.e. European men] don’t even think that’s real sex. They go all the way – they’re brownie queens.