up to here
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- Variously up to one's eyeballs, up to one's eyes, up to one's ears, up to one's neck, etc.
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Prepositional phrase[edit]
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see up to, here.
- Just fill the bucket with water up to here.
- (idiomatic) Overwhelmed, busy, buried or swamped.
- I have been up to here in paperwork all week.
- 1953, Raymond Chandler, chapter 12, in The Long Goodbye:
- They have their lives to live and I'm up to here in disgust with mine.
- Used as an intensifier.
- I have had it up to here with his sarcasm.
- I am stuffed up to here with appetizers.
Usage notes[edit]
Originally used with a gesture qualifying "here," e.g. holding up the hand flat at the level of the neck or the top of the head; subsequently used without any gesture, as the meaning is understood. Compare this close.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
overwhelmed, swamped
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