Dictionary

to the backbone en · ADP

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) Through and through; thoroughly; entirely.
   • Sir Culling was an extreme Low Churchman, an Exeter Hallite to the backbone, and the head and front of the Platitudinarian Party. 1894, Richard William Murray, South African Reminiscences, page 138:
   • staunch to the backbone 1834, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Last Days of Pompeii:
   • In temperament he was Dutch to the backbone — at least as we imagine Dutch. 1907, Alfred Thayer Mahan, From Sail to Steam: Reflections of Naval Life:

Synonyms

to the brim · from soup to nuts · to the gills · to the gunnels · in excelsis · to the hilt · to the core · to the nines · to the core · up to eleven · to the bone · to the bone · to the backbone · to the fullest · to the nth degree · to the marrow · to the full · to the max · all the way · to the tonsils · to the top of one's bent · top to bottom