balls to the wall
English · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
balls to the wall
Where it comes from
First attested in the 1960s in the context of aviation, in reference to ball-shaped grips on an aircraft's engine controls (typically throttle, prop pitch and fuel mixture). Pushing these "balls to the wall" would put the aircraft at maximum thrust. Analogous to pedal to the metal. Not related to the term balls-out, which refers to a ball governor on a steam engine. Neither balls-out nor balls to the wall is connected with the vulgar sense of balls (“testicles”) except via folk etymology.
adverb balls-to-the-wall · balls to the walls · balls-to-the-walls
-
With maximum effort or commitment.
I told the staff...the day before the hurricane struck that I expected them to cut every piece of red tape, do everything they could, that it was balls to the wall, that I didn't want to hear anybody say that we couldn't do anything—to do everything they humanly could to respond.
Similar: all out
- Full throttle; (at) maximum speed.
Talk about this word "balls to the wall." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/balls%20to%20the%20wall. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. balls to the wall. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/balls%20to%20the%20wall "balls to the wall." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/balls%20to%20the%20wall.Cite this
@misc{balls_to_the_wall_2026,
title = {balls to the wall},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/balls%20to%20the%20wall},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
