до ручки

• ДО РУЧКИ дойти, довести кого-что и т.п. highly coll

[PrepP; Invar; adv; more often used with pfv verbs]

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⇒ (usu. of or in refer, to a person, a group, or a sphere of human activity) (to reach, drive s.o. or sth. to etc) a hopeless, desperate state:

- X дошёл{{}}до ручки - person X reached <was at> the end of his rope (tether);

- person X reached the end of the line;

- person X was at the breaking point;

- thing X was in shambles;

- thing X was in (a state of) total disarray;

- thing X was a complete mess;

|| Y довёл X-a до ручки ≈ person Y pushed person X to the limit (to the breaking point);

- person Y made a mess of thing X;

- person Y reduced thing X to a state of total disarray;

- [in limited contexts] Y drove person X off the deep end.

     ♦ [Шаманов:]...Тогда мне было все равно. Так всё равно, что я даже не почувствовал, что я дошёл до ручки (Вампилов 2). [Sh.: ] Then, I didn't even care. I cared so little I didn't even realize I'd reached the end of the line (2b).

     ♦ Древесный вспомнил главрежа [главного режиссёра] с Солянки. Даже его довели до ручки, проклятые! Теперь театр, последний оплот Шестидесятых, конечно, рухнет... (Аксёнов 12). Drevesny thought of the director of the Solyanka. They drove even him off the deep end, the bastards! Now the theater, the last bastion of the sixties, will collapse, of course... (12a).