English Explanatory Dictionary

up to eleven

English dictionary entry

Meanings

prep_phrase
  1. Up to or beyond the maximum possible threshold; to an extremely high or strong degree.
verb
  1. To increase (something) to an extremely high or strong degree; to make (something) go over the top.

Pronunciation

/ˌʌp tə ɪˈlɛvən/ /-əˈlɛvən/ En-au-up to eleven.ogg

Word forms

up to eleven up to 11 ups to eleven upping to eleven upped to eleven

Etymology

PIE word *h₁óynos The term refers to a scene in the mockumentary This is Spinal Tap (1984), in which the character Nigel Tufnel, the lead guitarist of the band Spinal Tap, shows the director of the documentary Marty DiBergi a guitar amplifier with setting knobs that go from zero to eleven, rather than the standard zero to ten.

Synonyms

all the way from soup to nuts in excelsis to the backbone to the bone to the brim to the core to the fullest to the full to the gills to the gunnels to the hilt to the max to the nines to the nth degree to the tonsils to the top of one's bent top to bottom up to eleven

Related words

Spinal Tap-ian more at eleven
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