up to here

English

Alternative forms

• Variously up to one's eyeballs, up to one's eyes, up to one's ears, up to one's neck, etc.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Prepositional phrase

up to here

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see up to,‎ here.

   Just fill the bucket with water up to here.

2. (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.

3. Used as an intensifier.

   I have had it up to here with his sarcasm.

   I am stuffed up to here with appetizers.

Usage notes

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

• have had it up to here

Translations

overwhelmed, swamped

• Finnish: kaulaa myöten
• French: jusqu’au cou (fr) (literally “up to the neck”)
• Portuguese: por aqui
• Romanian: până în gât
• Russian: по́ у́ши (ru) (pó úši, literally “up to one's ears”)
• Spanish: hasta el gorro, hasta el culo
• Turkish: boğazına kadar (literally “up to one's neck”), gırtlağına kadar (literally “up to one's throat”)