MAX

noun and verb (Youth Culture) noun: In the US slang phrase to the max, totally, completely, to the highest degree. transitive or intransitive verb: In US slang, to do (something) to the limit; to excel, to perform to maximum ability or capacity, to peak. (Often as a phrasal verb max out.) Etymology: Max has been an abbreviated colloquial form of maximum since the middle of the nineteenth century, and there is some evidence that it was also occasionally used as a verb at that time. Both the phrasal uses result from the tendency for 'in' expressions to become fixed phrases among a particular group of people and then be picked up as phrases by outsiders. Out can be added to almost any verb in US slang: compare pig out and mellow out. History and Usage: The phrase to the max may have originated in US prep school slang in the late seventies, but is now particularly associated with the speech of young Californians. In the late eighties it started to appear in British sources as well, but is still a conscious Americanism. The verb max out has its roots in US prison slang, where it has been used in the sense 'to complete a maximum prison sentence' since at least the mid seventies. In the eighties, it was used in a wide variety of different contexts, including the financial (giving or spending to the limit of one's resources), the physical (for example, exercising to the limit of one's endurance), and cases in which it simply means 'to peak'. The phrasal verb is the foundation for an adjective maxed out, at the limit of one's abilities, endurance, etc. In the past three years, 81 percent of those who've 'maxed out' on psychiatry (that is, exceeded the Blues' $50,000 lifetime limit on outpatient bills) have been from Washington. Washington Post Magazine 22 Nov. 1981, p. 28 Pop 1987 was choc-a-bloc with 'good songs', was human-all-too-human, warm and fleshy to the max. New Statesman 18 Dec. 1987, p. 36 On stage and in interview, Sandra Bernhard works her sharp tongue to the max. The Face Jan. 1989, p. 20 'We are maxed out. We are practically pushing the walls out', said Jane Marie Schrader, library director. Newark Star-Ledger (New Jersey) 14 Jan. 1990, p. 56 See also grody