up the wazoo
4
9.9
- idiom
- Offensive
:
a montones (informal)
- I got stories up the wazoo.
- got choices up the wazoo
There's only so much that these destinations like Italy can charge you up the wazoo and you walk away going that experience stunk.
- There's only so much that these destinations like Italy can charge you up the wazoo and you walk away going that experience stunk.
Examples
-
It says you have parking tickets up the wazoo.
-
I got frequent flyer miles up the wazoo.
Fiction book (1997) -
I had play dates up the wazoo.
Blog text (18) -
We have crickets up the wazoo.
-
We're taxed up the wazoo with the highest state and property taxes in the nation.
Blog text (10) -
They have industrial lasers up the wazoo.
-
They have her on painkillers up the wazoo.
Fiction book (1999) -
Pierce has an overbearing mom—she's smart as heck with scientific awards up the wazoo.
Blog text (3) -
Yes, they are credentialed up the wazoo, but as anyone who has hired Ivy League grads knows, it is obvious that you can be quite stupid and attain the credential your parents dreamed of.
Blog text (34) -
I have ideas for projects up the wazoo, but no time to start them.
Synonyms
31
6.2
Much higher than normal in amount or level
14
8.0
To a very great degree
In very large amounts
Antonyms
How Abundant
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'in very large quantities' is not directly derivable from 'up' (direction/intensifier) plus 'wazoo' (colloquial ‘butt’); a literal interpretation does not yield the quantitative meaning. This is a slang, idiomatic and somewhat vulgar metaphor whose meaning is culture-specific and unpredictable, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts is unlikely to infer it.
Etymology
Up the wazoo comes from slang where wazoo means 'backside', creating a funny picture of so many things that they are piled up into the wazoo. That's why it now means 'in very large quantities'.