Definition of: "all the way up" with explanation and origin
Definition of: all the way up with explanation and origin? Meaning of all the way up with examples in English idiom dictionary.
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Definition of: "all the way up" with explanation and origin
all the way up
all the way up
Meaning
- Literally refers to ascending a mountain or cliff, or navigating a river to a specific terminal point.
- Figuratively, it refers to working through or completing the various stages of an endeavor, usually to some identified point.
- It can be used to include everyone within a chain of command or hierarchy.
- More recently, it has become a slang term for a drug-induced mania, state of wakefulness, or sense of invulnerability.
Example Sentences
- I made it all the way up the steep incline, but I didn’t have the energy to go on.
- He played piano all the way up through his junior year of college.
- Responsibility for the failure goes all the way up to the senior executives.
- After taking cocaine, he was all the way up and running around like a fool.
Origin
The more traditional sense is straightforwardly derived from the literal notion of surmounting or navigating terrain. The figurative use of ‘climbing’ through the ranks of a school, business, or other institutional hierarchy—or referring to a period over which one did so—has been in common use since at least the early 19th century. An 1816 book, pseudonymously penned by “A Practical Jobber,” notes that it was a common expression amongst stock brokers to say, “I am a Bull all the way up and a Bear all the way down.” (The Art of Stock-Jobbing Explained, Fifth Edition, London: Hamblin and Seyfang, 1816: p. 25). In this context, a “bull” is someone who invests in the expectation that market prices will rise, and a “bear” is someone who short-sells in the expectation that market prices will fall.
The more recent slang was used by the rappers Fat Joe, Remy Ma, and French Montana in their single, “All the Way Up.”
The Origins of all the way up
UpEnglish
Related Dictionary
- English Definition & Meaning Dictionary
- English Idioms and phrases Dictionary
- Dictionnaire Français
- Dictionnaire d'expressions idiomatiques et de phrases en français
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English Idioms and phrases
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below). By another definition, an idiom is a speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements.[3] For example, an English speaker would understand the phrase "kick the bucket" to mean "to die" – and also to actually kick a bucket. Furthermore, they would understand when each meaning is being used in context.
To evoke the desired effect in the listener, idioms require a precise replication of the phrase: not even articles can be used interchangeably (e.g. "kick a bucket" only retains the literal meaning of the phrase but not the idiomatic meaning).
Idioms should not be confused with other figures of speech such as metaphors, which evoke an image by use of implicit comparisons (e.g., "the man of steel"); similes, which evoke an image by use of explicit comparisons (e.g., "faster than a speeding bullet"); or hyperbole, which exaggerates an image beyond truthfulness (e.g., "more powerful than a locomotive"). Idioms are also not to be confused with proverbs, which are simple sayings that express a truth based on common sense or practical experience.
