full throttle

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English

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Noun

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full throttle (plural full throttles)

  1. (literal or near-literal) A maximum setting on an engine or motor control: especially, the totally open position of a valve for air intake, but also any corresponding maximum setting.
    Antonyms: idle, idling
    • 1943, Johnston Carroll, “Wings of the North”, in Leo Margulies, editor, Flying Wildcats, page 127:
      there was no further sign of any Nazi planes, Perry banked southward and went roaring home to Base on full throttles
    • 1975, John Innes Clarke, An Advanced Geography of Africa, page 43:
      its regs and serirs over which Land Rovers can race with full throttles and little chance of meeting any obstacle larger than a fist-sized stone.
    • 2003, Bob Bondurant with John Blakemore, Bob Bondurant on High Performance Driving, page 85:
      Under full throttle, your car is just on the border of maximum traction
  2. (figurative) A maximum level of speed, effort, or risk.
    Synonyms: top gear, overdrive
    Antonym: low gear
    • 1999, David M. Jacobs, The Threat: Revealing the Secret Alien Agenda, page 228:
      I'm in the full throttles of an embrace and this is wonderful.
    • 2003, Jennifer Hendricks with Gordon Hendricks, Slim to None: A Journey Through the Wasteland of Anorexia Treatment, page 176:
      In the third week Dr. Gale shifted into full throttle back pedal.
    • 2008, Otis L Graham, Jr., Immigration Reform and America's Unchosen Future, page 193:
      The full-throttle growth was still in place, as it had been as long as I could remember.

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Adverb

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full throttle (comparative more full throttle, superlative most full throttle)

  1. All out; at maximum speed, effort, or risk.
    • 1988, Murray A. Pura with Loren Wilkinson, Mizzly Fitch: The Light, the Sea, the Storm, page 14:
      The other, the Christina Covey, there was another that never knowed the harbour, why, she come in full throttle
    • 1996, Steven Jonas, The Essential Triathlete:
      Virtually all exercise authorities recommend some kind of warm-up period in each session before you go full throttle
    • 2006, Dorothea Benton Frank, Full of Grace, page 212:
      If Nonna had seen them, she would do the same as Dad, but I looked back to see her focused full throttle on whatever it was George was saying.

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