all-becrushing

English

Etymology

all- + be- + crushing, nonce coinage by S. T. Coleridge to render Mendelssohn's alleszermalmend, in reference to Kant.

Adjective

all-becrushing (comparative more all-becrushing, superlative most all-becrushing)

1. crushing all
   • 1817, S. T. Coleridge, Biographia Literaria:

     the striking but untranslatable epithet, which the celebrated Mendelssohn applied to the great founder of the Critical Philosophy "Der alleszermalmende Kant," that is, the all-becrushing, or rather the all-to-nothing-crushing Kant.

   • 1990, Andrei Navrozov, The Times, Saturday May 5, 1990:

     providing its author – unlike the Red Star – with equal space for an allbecrushing reply.