nuts to butts
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: nuts-to-butts
Senses: examples: text: There was a Marine in front of Puller, then Puller, and myself. We were nuts-to-butts, so to speak, and that Marine tripped a booby trap.
ref: 1994, George I. Ellis, “Petty Officer Third Class”, in Harry Spiller, editor, Scars of Vietnam: Personal Accounts by Veterans and Their Families, McFarland & Company, pages 93-94:
text: They’d been led about the Court in a nuts-to-butts conga line, dancing for the amusement of His Royal Highness.
ref: 1999, H. Jay Riker, chapter 14, in In Harm's Way, Avon Books, page 276:
text: “All traffic all the time, every minute on the minute.” The radio waves trembled with Mother’s voice. “It’s nuts to butts on the Kennedy all the way into... wait a second... Accident Alert!”
ref: 2004 June 24, Martin Mundt, The Crawling Abattoir, 3rd edition, Twilight Tales, page 103:
text: As you approach the door outside the funnel, you get nuts-to-butts and keep the muzzles of your weapons pointed up. You bring the weapon to bear as soon as you enter the room, careful not to sweep your buddy.
ref: 2007, Luis Giampietri, Bill Salisbury, Lorena Ausejo, 41 Seconds to Freedom: An Insider's Account of the Lima Hostage Crisis, 1996-97, Ballantine Books, page 140:
glosses: Arranged in close formation, one behind the other; nose to tail.
raw_tags: of people
examples: text: The Angels’ current facilities, Sliwa emphasized, are “ ‘sardinelike’ or, to use the street euphemism, ‘nuts to butts.’ Females who have visited felt uncomfortable.”
ref: 1994 August 29, Sliwa, “Angels with Smelly Armpits”, in Monica Corcoran, New York, volume 27, number 34, page 28:
text: There are no chairs on the floor, and by show time, it was "nuts-to-butts" out there.
ref: 2000 March 28, “Tour Diary #1: Asleep At The Wheel Hug The Road With Bob Dylan”, in MTV, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2024:
text: The place was nuts-to-butts with state flunkies, troopers and K-9 cops.
ref: 2001, P. J. Parrish, chapter 35, in Dead of Winter, Pinnacle Books, page 342:
text: The night streets are nuts to butts with jarangs — the derogatory Thai term for white folk — strutting and gaping, hunting for beer and pussy, man’s most essential needs.
ref: 2008, Mike Sager, “Thailand's Home for Wayward Bets” (chapter 8), in Wounded Warriors: Those for Whom the War Never Ends, w: Da Capo Press, page 169:
text: There was this "leaning bar" behind the seats at the main bar. It was nuts-to-butts in there. I had a "motorcycle" jacket on.
ref: 2008 January 28, Morgan Buchanan, “Smacked a Harley rider in the face . . .”, in VTX OA, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2024:
text: The slow motion mosh pit resumed and bodies were crushed together like a man’s junk in 80s jeans. It was nuts to butts as we managed to squeeze the last person on, leaving no room to slide a credit card between us. There were armpits in the face and lumps and bumps pressed against lumps and bumps.
ref: 2013 December 2, “The accidental pervert”, in Head in a Blender, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2024:
text: The last game I rode the train from downtown to was the game where the Cubs won the pennant in the year they won the World Series. That thing was nuts to butts. After being in the country 5 years now I would probably die on that train. I hate crowds.
ref: 2023 February 9, okeefe4prez, “Who’s Going To Wrigley?”, in Hawkeye Nation, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2024:
glosses: Tightly crowded, packed.