bursting point

English

Noun

bursting point

1. The point at which capacity is exceeded and something cannot take any more.
   • 1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 263:

     Third class carriages have wooden seats and centre corridors; they are always crammed to bursting point.

   • 2020 June 3, Richard Clinnick, “Network News: HS2 progress: "volume of activity is growing"”, in Rail, page 11:

     "HS2 is based on the West Coast Main Line bursting at the seams. Both that and the East Coast Main Line are at bursting point for capacity.

2. The point at which emotional self-control is lost.

References

• “bursting point”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “bursting point”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.