up to (one's) neck
- idiom
- Informal
:
hasta el cuello
- He's up to his neck in debt, struggling to make ends meet.
Examples
-
Divorced, up to his neck in alimony payments.
-
He's a high roller and he's up to his neck in debt.
-
MITCHEL: This guy is in it up to his neck.
-
Pop, he's in up to his neck.
-
He's up to his neck in the shit.
-
He's up to his neck in debt, he's got no business wasting my money like this?
-
It's where the Mexicans, they bury the Lone Ranger up to his neck, you know.
-
After taking on too many projects, she found herself up to her neck in work.
-
With so many responsibilities at home, he's really up to his neck in stress.
Synonyms
62
4.8
Very interested and completely involved in something
13
3.9
Very involved in something, like work or problems
12
7.4
Too involved in a problem or situation to get out easily
5
7.4
Someone who has no more patience because of many annoying things
4
6.9
Very involved in a difficult situation that is hard to manage
3
7.6
Very busy with difficult work or problems and almost overwhelmed
3
9.4
In a difficult situation with no easy way out
2
7.9
Being very busy with a lot of difficult work or problems
2
6.7
Very involved in a difficult or serious problem
1
7.9
Very involved in a difficult situation with too much to do
1
4.6
Having too much work or responsibility to manage
1
6.9
Very busy with work or tasks and feeling overwhelmed
1
7.5
Caught up in something so you cannot easily leave
1
7.8
In a bad situation that stops progress like being stuck in mud
1
6.5
Weighed down by worry or responsibility
Very busy with more work than you can handle
Very busy dealing with many difficult problems
Deeply involved in a difficult or public dispute
Deeply stuck in a difficult situation that is hard to leave
Antonyms
How Burdened
- Informal
1
6.9
1
5.3
- Informal
∞
1.0
79
3.5
522
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
up + to + (one's) + neck
The literal parts 'up to' (indicating extent) and 'neck' (a body height marker) transparently evoke being immersed or reaching a high degree, so a learner who knows the words can infer a sense of being deeply involved. However, the idiomatic nuance of being overwhelmed or burdened (rather than literally submerged) is metaphorical and may not be fully predictable without prior exposure; the metaphor is common cross-linguistically, which supports partial recognizability.
Etymology
The idiom up to (one's) neck shows a picture of someone standing in water or mud with the water up to their neck, so they can hardly move. That's why the phrase means being 'deeply involved' or 'overwhelmed' by problems or work.