nuts to butts

English

Alternative forms

• nuts-to-butts (adjective)

Adverb

nuts to butts (not comparable) (idiomatic, slang)

1. (originally military, chiefly of people) Closely one behind the other. [from 1980s]
   • 1984 May 4, Jon Sugar, “A Sweet and Sonr Look at Jon Sugar”, in Alex MacDonald, Bay Area Reporter, volume XIV, number 21, page 22:

     I’m a bastard jewboy in the promised land
     with a big hairy ass and a pocket full of sand
     livin’ nuts to butts and asshole to bell

   • 1988 October 28, James M. Shannon, “Narrative” (chapter VI), in The Report of the Investigation of Attorney General James M. Shannon of the Class 12 Experience at the Edward W. Connelly Criminal Justice Training Center, Agawam, Massachusetts, Massachusetts. Attorney General's Office, page 63:

     Lawrence Rich gave away his iced tea and forced down two grape drinks before lining up "nuts to butts" to leave the room.

   • 2003, Rita M. Ippoliti, “Tandem City” (chapter 6), in Falling into Place, Kryos Publishing, page 128:

     Like where else could he go? We’re harnessed together nuts to butts.

   • 2011, Dara Odoe Sok, Engagement in Peril, Xlibris, page 504:

     Another yelled out, “Let me see nuts to butts, c'mon, people, nuts to butts, ladies! This ain't fucking gay, get used to it now! Nuts to butts!”

   • 2017, Walt Browning, Charlie's Requiem: Resistance, →ISBN, page 15:

     The vehicles were stacked nuts to butts, with little room to pass between them.

   • 2023 September 27, Maximilian Sebastian Sterling, “Rethinking the Stereotype: The English and Queuing Misconceptions”, in Medium‎^[1], archived from the original on 2024-04-25:

     Ironically, I found myself playing peacekeeper, urging elderly English ladies to respect the line, much like I would back in Dehli’s while disembarking from airplanes where people found the need to stand “nuts to butts” while pushing forward.

2. (by extension) Crowdedly, tightly, compactly.
   • 2005, Richard Lee Pulgham, The Hogs of Cold Harbor: The Civil War Saga of Private Johnny Hess, CSA, Whitmore Publishing Co., page 93:

     Many had never ridden on a train before and were excited as children. They piled in willy-nilly, everywhere, finding room where they could. It was so crowded that some had to stand up in the aisles, nuts to butts, but they didn’t mind.

   • 2008, Nick Garafola, Hot Metal Boys, Cold Piece Books, page 48:

     “When I got down there they already had about 20 crazy fuckers packed together nuts to butts in the same cell smellin’ like fart. I was like, get me the fuck outta here.”

   • 2014 March 17, Mark Sanders, “Denver fans explain why De La Soul still matters”, in Westword‎^[2], archived from the original on 2024-04-25:

     De La Soul, the iconic Long Island hip-hop trio, performed last Saturday to a capacity crowd at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom. It was "nuts-to-butts crowded," as my Tennessee friends like to say.

   • 2017, William Hunter, Sanction,  […], →ISBN, page 47:

     If it had not been a weekend, the borough would have been quieter. Moreover, the morning crowd would have soon been out, and the area overwhelmed with commuters walking, biking, and driving to work, or packed nuts to butts on public transportation.

   • 2018, Lois Greiman, Unsweetened, NYLA, page 227:

     Maybe it does take a village. But what if the damned village in question is nuts to butts full of idiots? —Lieutenant Jack Rivera

   • 2024 June 27, @dane_berggren, Twitter‎^[3], archived from the original on 2024-07-21:

     There's no point in arguing, they believe they are superior and anyone who doesn't live nuts to butts in an overcrowded city is stupid.

Adjective

nuts to butts (not comparable) (idiomatic, slang)

1. (chiefly of people) Arranged in close formation, one behind the other; nose to tail. [from 1990s]
   • 1994, George I. Ellis, “Petty Officer Third Class”, in Harry Spiller, editor, Scars of Vietnam: Personal Accounts by Veterans and Their Families, McFarland & Company, pages 93-94:

     There was a Marine in front of Puller, then Puller, and myself. We were nuts-to-butts, so to speak, and that Marine tripped a booby trap.

   • 1999, H. Jay Riker, chapter 14, in In Harm's Way, Avon Books, page 276:

     They’d been led about the Court in a nuts-to-butts conga line, dancing for the amusement of His Royal Highness.

   • 2004 June, Martin Mundt, The Crawling Abattoir, 3rd edition, Twilight Tales, page 103:

     “All traffic all the time, every minute on the minute.” The radio waves trembled with Mother’s voice. “It’s nuts to butts on the Kennedy all the way into... wait a second... Accident Alert!”

   • 2007, Luis Giampietri, Bill Salisbury, Lorena Ausejo, 41 Seconds to Freedom: An Insider's Account of the Lima Hostage Crisis, 1996-97, Ballantine Books, page 140:

     As you approach the door outside the funnel, you get nuts-to-butts and keep the muzzles of your weapons pointed up. You bring the weapon to bear as soon as you enter the room, careful not to sweep your buddy.

2. Tightly crowded, packed. [from 1990s]
   • 1994 August 29, Sliwa, “Angels with Smelly Armpits”, in Monica Corcoran, New York, volume 27, number 34, page 28:

     The Angels’ current facilities, Sliwa emphasized, are “ ‘sardinelike’ or, to use the street euphemism, ‘nuts to butts.’ Females who have visited felt uncomfortable.”

   • 2000 March 28, “Tour Diary #1: Asleep At The Wheel Hug The Road With Bob Dylan”, in MTV‎^[4], archived from the original on 2024-04-25:

     There are no chairs on the floor, and by show time, it was "nuts-to-butts" out there.

   • 2001, P. J. Parrish, chapter 35, in Dead of Winter, Pinnacle Books, page 342:

     The place was nuts-to-butts with state flunkies, troopers and K-9 cops.

   • 2008, Mike Sager, “Thailand's Home for Wayward Bets” (chapter 8), in Wounded Warriors: Those for Whom the War Never Ends, w: Da Capo Press, page 169:

     The night streets are nuts to butts with jarangs — the derogatory Thai term for white folk — strutting and gaping, hunting for beer and pussy, man’s most essential needs.

   • 2008 January 28, Morgan Buchanan, “Smacked a Harley rider in the face . . .”, in VTX OA‎^[5], archived from the original on 2024-04-25:

     There was this "leaning bar" behind the seats at the main bar. It was nuts-to-butts in there. I had a "motorcycle" jacket on.

   • 2013 December 2, “The accidental pervert”, in Head in a Blender‎^[6], archived from the original on 2024-04-25:

     The slow motion mosh pit resumed and bodies were crushed together like a man’s junk in 80s jeans. It was nuts to butts as we managed to squeeze the last person on, leaving no room to slide a credit card between us. There were armpits in the face and lumps and bumps pressed against lumps and bumps.

   • 2023 February 9, okeefe4prez, “Who’s Going To Wrigley?”, in Hawkeye Nation‎^[7], archived from the original on 2024-04-25:

     The last game I rode the train from downtown to was the game where the Cubs won the pennant in the year they won the World Series. That thing was nuts to butts. After being in the country 5 years now I would probably die on that train. I hate crowds.