When you have something out the wazoo (or up the wazoo), you have it in great abundance; in excessive quantity; in great plenty; everywhere; more than enough; too much.
Variations:
• out the gazoo
• out the ying-yang:
Origin of “Out the Wazoo”
The term wazoo emerged in American slang in the early 1960s as a humorous euphemism for the anus or buttocks (alongside the variant gazoo). While its exact etymological roots remain uncertain, it likely originated as a playful college or military slang substitution.
Although the phrase is widely used in casual conversation today, many speakers do not realize the visceral physical metaphors driving the idiom:
- “Out the Wazoo” (Excessive Supply): The spatial preposition out relies on the graphic visual metaphor of overflow. The core idea is that an individual or place possesses such an overwhelming, uncontrollable abundance of something that it is literally “coming out of one’s rear end.”
- “Up the Wazoo” (Satiation or Intrusion): The variation up the wazoo can function in two ways. First, up acts as an grammatical intensifier (similar to stuffed up or filled up), signaling that someone is filled to maximum capacity. Alternatively, it serves as a directional opposite—implying that an excessive amount of something has been crammed, shoved, or forced up into one’s rear end.
Because of its anatomy-based origin, the idiom is technically categorized as mild vulgarity. However, decades of mainstream media usage, from sitcoms to courtroom dramas, have largely softened its impact, shifting it from crude slang into a standard informal hyperbolic idiom for overwhelming quantity. Sometimes, however, the more obviously crude “out the ass” variation is used.
Movie Citations
“ll generate false currency transaction reports out the wazoo.” — Breaking Bad: Abiquiu (2010)
“You have no idea the tap-dance I had to give those cops to get you out of here. You gave them probable cause out the wazoo.” — Hero (2015)
“Do you tell good stories?” “I got stories up the wazoo.” — I Am Sam (2002)
“Blood tissues are not completely compatible…” “I know about compatibility. We’ve been tested up the wazoo. We’re both B-positive. Our tissues match.” — John Q (2002)
Sentence Examples
“We have dirty dishes up the wazoo. Can you help me wash them?”
“My neighbor has a dozen chickens in his backyard so now I’ve got eggs out the wazoo.”
“My older brother had sports trophies out the wazoo but he was a terrible student.”
Similar and Related Idioms
- Embarrassment of Riches: An overabundance or excessive amount of something desirable, often to the point that choosing among options becomes difficult or overwhelming.
- More Than You Can Shake a Stick At: An extremely large number or quantity of something; far more than needed or expected.
- A Dime a Dozen: Anything that is extremely common, easily accessible, or available in such abundance that it has very little individual value.
- A Million Times: A hyperbole used to describe something occurring repeatedly or to express an extreme degree of frequency or emphasis.
- Umpteen: An unspecified, indefinitely large number of items, instances, or occasions.
- Gazillion: An informal, hyperbolic term used to represent an unimaginably vast or uncountable quantity.