This is a colloquial phrase in Spanglish formed by the Spanish preposition “a” and the English adjective “full” whose meaning is to do the best possible a certain activity.
This activity can refer to speed (“vamos llegando a full”), quality (“vamos a pintar un retrato a full detalle”), disposition (“mañanaanallegaremos a full early”), concentration (“no puedo atenderte, estoy a full ocupado”) or intensity (“jugaremos este partido a full”).
SYNONYMS FOR A Full
- At full throttle
- At full speed
- Full throttle
- Full throttle
- At full speed
- On the run
- At maximum readiness
- A thousand miles an hour
- With the highest quality
- With all your heart
- In a hurry
- With the utmost diligence
- With absolute sincerity
- Fully concentrated
- Quickly
- Violently
- Without delay
- At once
ORIGIN OF A Full
The literal translation of the English word full is full, complete or total, and its origin of use in the Spanish language is due to the continuous contact that the inhabitants of certain Latin American countries, especially oil-producing countries, had with American workers.
It was common to hear them use the word full in many everyday phrases, and due to the “sticky” nature of the word, it quickly caught on in popular speech when they wanted to indicate something full or complete: “the room is full of people”, “I don’t want to eat anymore, I’m full”, etc.
Over time, the 21st century generations created a new lexicon including the preposition “a” in front of “full” to reaffirm, even more, the extreme sense of the term.
CURIOSITIES OF A Full
Something interesting is that the term A Full has been completely Americanized and currently the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language included in its Dictionary of Americanisms the orthographic adaptation “A Ful” with only one L as a completely valid term that is popularly used in a large part of the Latin American continent.