Etymology

up to eleven

Today it means: Up to or beyond the maximum possible threshold; to an extremely high or strong degree. Full definition →

First used 1984
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The story

PIE word *h₁óynos The term refers to a scene in the mockumentary This is Spinal Tap (1984), in which the character Nigel Tufnel, the lead guitarist of the band Spinal Tap, shows the director of the documentary Marty DiBergi a guitar amplifier with setting knobs that go from zero to eleven, rather than the standard zero to ten.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1984 Up to or beyond the maximum possible threshold; to an extremely high or strong degree.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.