Live at full blast

[Johnyxxx]

Hello,

May I use the idiom at full blast use with the verb live?

"He lives at full blast."

Thanks a lot.

 

[Phaedrus]

I think this would work much better:

He always goes full bore.

 

[Rover_KE]

I think this would work much better:

He always goes full bore.

That doesn't work in BE.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm not quite sure what you're trying to get across. Perhaps one of these comes close:

- He lives life at full speed.
- He crams an amazing amount into every day.
- He lives life at breakneck speed.
- He never stops!

 

[Phaedrus]

That doesn't work in BE.

I'm sorry to hear that you guys deprive yourselves of the expression.

In actuality, I'd use the progressive:

He's always going full bore.

I just wanted to mirror the simple-present structure.

If you say that it too doesn't work in BrE, please know that I sincerely don't care, even if your post receives all the likes in the world. It works perfectly in AmE.

 

[bhaisahab]

I'm sorry to hear that you guys deprive yourselves of the expression.

In actuality, I'd use the progressive:

He's always going full bore.

I just wanted to mirror the simple-present structure.

If you say that it too doesn't work in BrE, please know that I sincerely don't care, even if your post receives all the likes in the world. It works perfectly in AmE.

You may not care, and frankly I don't care if you care or not, but it was perfectly correct for Rover_KE to point out the fact that it doesn't work in BrE. It is useful for students/learners to know that.

 

[Phaedrus]

You may not care, and frankly I don't care if you care or not, but it was perfectly correct for Rover_KE to point out the fact that it doesn't work in BrE. It is useful for students/learners to know that.

And it was perfectly correct for me to point out that it does work in AmE (it is useful for students/learners to know that, as well, bhaisahab), though I of course won't be surprised in the least if one of your loyal AmE participants now decides to contradict me, just for the sake of it.

 

[andrewg927]

Haha, how about saying that right after the fourth of July weekend?

 

[Rover_KE]

And it was perfectly correct for me to point out that it does work in AmE (it is useful for students/learners to know that, as well, bhaisahab) ...

Nobody said it wasn't.

Let's agree to show respect for each other's opinions.

 

[Phaedrus]

I just checked the OED online, to which I finally subscribed this past week, after years of temptation, and was pleased to find that it does have some very useful information about "full bore" (or "full-bore"). There are two quotes with "going full bore," one from the New York Times. What I find particularly delightful is that "at full blast" is listed as one of the "numerous similar expressions":

[from B. adj.]

3. colloq. Possessing or exhibiting a specified quality, condition, etc., to the fullest possible extent; complete, thoroughgoing, full-blown.

1967 Times 10 Mar. 33/1 A new Australian play, Desire of the Moth, a full bore melodrama.

1977 Forbes (Nexis) 1 Nov. 98 There is a bill now in the banking committee that provides for a full-bore lending facility for credit unions to meet liquidity problems.
1983 80 Micro Mar. 30/1 A pair of disk drives and a printer joined up somewhere along the way, so by now it's a pretty full-bore system.
2001 P. Reizin Dumping Hilary (2002) x. 347 Monty skewers me with his full-bore sincerity look.
2013 L. Billings Five Billion Years Solitude i. 11 A full-bore search for alien radio transmissions from stars within a thousand light years of Earth.

C. adv.
Originally: to the full capacity or diameter of a pipe, pump, etc. In later use often gen. or fig.: at maximum capacity, at full speed.

1756 Philos. Trans. 1755 (Royal Soc.) 49 320 When the water run [sic] full bore, at the rate of a gallon in 17 seconds, the heat of the water was found..to be 80 degrees above the freezing point.
1852 Sci. Amer. 14 Feb. 173/1 The only condition of lead in water-pipes, running full bore, which was not met [etc.].
1927 Bulletin (Sydney) 30 June 13/4 If the cord is pulled while on a bridge or other undesirable stopping place, the driver may, by..working his pump hard and his engine ‘full-bore’, keep going.
1974 E. Bowen Henry & Other Heroes iii. 66 When Doctor Downs came roaring down, at the bottom of his buzz he hit the haystack full bore.
1994 G. Paulsen Winterdance iii. 74 Their coats sleek up with added meat and fat (as much as they can eat when the training is going full bore).
2005 N.Y. Times 6 Feb. 25/3 Three months later, Mr. Arganese is still going full bore. [emphasis mine]

Phrases

at full bore: at full capacity; at maximum strength or speed. Cf. sense C.Cf. numerous similar expressions as at full blast at blast n.[SUP]1[/SUP] 4c, at full lick at lick n. 6, (at) full pelt at pelt n.[SUP]2[/SUP] 3a, (at) full split at split n.[SUP]1[/SUP] 4a, etc.

1851 Artizan Aug. 181/2 ‘A supply of water’..may mean either a charge running at full bore, or a mere dribble.
1872 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 19 Apr. 461/2 In one case, the gas was discovered discharging at full bore ‘from an eight-inch main’.
1938 ‘N. Shute’ Kindling v. 103 The yard employed three thousand men when it was working at full bore.
1964 C. Willock Enormous Zoo iii. 48 When one of the mums discovered that her children were missing she came back through the grass at full bore.
2003 Environmental Health Perspectives 111 A220/1 When personal watercraft are on the water, they typically are ridden at full-bore.

 

[Skrej]

A similar expression (at least in AmE) is '(at) full tilt'.