up to one's ears



up to one's ears

Also, in up to one's eyes or eyeballs or neck . Deeply involved; also, oversupplied, surfeited. For example, I'm up to my ears in work, or He's in up to his eyes with the in-laws. This hyperbolic and slangy idiom implies one is flooded with something up to those organs. The first was first recorded in 1839; up to the eyes in 1778; to the eyeballs in 1911; to the neck in 1856.
See also: ear, up

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
HallHAWLEnglish
Gotzone-Basque
Arbuckle[a:'bʌkl]
Yolande[jəʊ'lændə]
Cristian-Romanian
Gisellezhee-ZEL (French), ji-ZEL (English)French, English (Modern)