to the tonsils

English

Alternative forms

• up to the tonsils

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Prepositional phrase

to the tonsils

1. (figuratively, idiomatic, informal, postpositive) Entirely, completely, extremely, to the greatest degree.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:to the full

   He was stuffed to the tonsils with cream crackers.

   They sat there, robed up to the tonsils, and made me feel so below a juvenile delinquent.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     And who could say how soon, if I continued to be always at his side, Wilbert Cream would get it up his nose and start attacking me with tooth and claw? Already his manner was that of a man whom the society of Bertram Wooster had fed to the tonsils, and one more sight of the latter at his elbow might quite easily make him decide to take prompt steps through the proper channels.