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already

 - 3 dictionary results

al⋅read⋅y

  [awl-red-ee]
Use already in a Sentence
–adverb
1. by this or that time; previously; prior to or at some specified or implied time: When we came in, we found they had already arrived.
2. now; so soon; so early: Is it noon already?
3. Informal. (used as an intensifier to express exasperation or impatience): Let's go already!
Origin:
1350–1400; ME al redy all ready; what orig. meant “completely ( all ) ready” and modified the subject (The porter all ready was there) was taken adverbially as modifying the predicate (The porter already was there, meaning “from an earlier time”)

Usage note:
Although already and all ready are often indistinguishable in speech, the written forms have distinct meanings and uses. The phrase all ready means “entirely ready” or “prepared” (I was all ready to leave on vacation). Already means “previously” (The plane had already left the airport) or “so soon” (Is it lunchtime already?).
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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al·read·y   (ôl-rěd'ē)   
adv.  

  1. By this or a specified time: The children were already asleep when we got home.

  2. So soon: Are you quitting already?

  3. Informal Used as an intensive: Be quiet already. Enough already.


[Middle English alredi : al, all; see all + redi, ready; see ready.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

already 
c.1300, compound of all + ready. Colloquial use in U.S. as a terminal emphatic (e.g. enough, already!) is attested from 1903, translating Yiddish shoyn, which is used in same sense. The pattern also is attested in Pennsylvania German and in S.African.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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