burst at the seams

Idioms  

1. Be filled to or beyond normal capacity. For example, On her wedding day the church was bursting at the seams, or That was a wonderful meal, but I'm bursting at the seams. This expression alludes to rupturing the seams of a garment too tight for the wearer and is generally used hyperbolically. Also see come apart at the seams.

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Example Sentences

From dawn to sundown, they cut a seemingly endless harvest of the hardy leaves and stuff them into white bags until they burst at the seams.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 23, 2024

And the few who remain cannot support the building that once burst at the seams.

From Washington Times • Nov. 1, 2020

A household threatens to burst at the seams when the marriage of two widowed parents creates a family of 18 children.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 23, 2019

But now, as inner-ring schools burst at the seams, it’s their replacements further out that have empty seats.

From Slate • Sep. 12, 2018

Shaking Chubs back awake wasn’t enough for me, not when I thought I would actually burst at the seams with excitement.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken