All found

Posted by Bob on August 24, 2007

In Reply to: All found posted by RRC on August 23, 2007

: : : What's the history of "all found" meaning board and accommodation, as in "Ten dollars a day, all found"? Rex Stout writes: "Wait till you taste the found" i.e. food.

: : Find in the sense of procure goes back to Middle English or beyond. Later "all found" comes to mean "what is customary and necessary being provided," meaning primarily food, whether for a lodger or for a servant. However, find and found can be used with other direct objects. From the description in the OED, Americans prefer to leave off the "all."

: : I think Rex Stout was being humorous--or is that a "duh"?
: : SS

: I'm not sure Americans currently use this at all, but maybe I don't read enough travel brochures.

I'm inclined to agree. Not a US usage.