informal So as to reach or surpass the maximum level; to an extreme or intense degree: turn the volume up to eleven I like my art cranked up to eleven...- He only really had one character - himself turned up to eleven.
- Slip the disc into your player and turn the volume up to eleven.
- Every plot is turned up to eleven, as it were.
1984: coined in the film comedy This is Spinal Tap, with reference to a rock guitarist whose amplifier's volume control goes up to eleven rather than the usual ten