up to the hub en · ADP
Etymology
Suggesting a wheel stuck in mud.
Meanings
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(archaic, idiomatic) As far as possible in embarrassment or difficulty, or in business; deeply involved.
I am afraid A. F. S. (Dresden) gets "up to the hub" in engineering difficulties sometimes, but this will help him to appreciate the force, beauty and application of the expression.
Amateur work, illustrated (volume 4, page 406)[…] I was like the wheels of the wagon, out of which I had made some of my capital — up to the hub in the mire of poverty, a heavy load forcing me deeper down, and no aid likely to be given me.
1885, Andrew Madsen Smith, Up and Down in the World, Or, Paddle Your Own Canoe, page 106:I was up to the hub in love, and was goin' into it like a locomotive.
1864, The Gleaner, page 13: