от сих и до сих

• ОТ СИХ (И) ДО СИХ{{}}

[PrepP; these forms only; adv; fixed WO]

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⇒ (to read sth., do a job, carry out an order etc) within the strict boundaries of what is assigned (usu. used sarcastically with the implication that by doing so one demonstrates a lack of initiative, intellectual curiosity etc):

- from here to here <there>;

- [in limited contexts] within precise limits;

- from point A to point B (and no further).

     ♦ ...В их головах не укладывается, чтобы парень без образования, вроде меня, сам читал Ленина или что-нибудь ещё. Они сами-то его читали "от сих до сих" (Марченко 1). ...Their minds couldn't contain the idea of an uneducated fellow like me actually reading Lenin-or anything else for that matter. They themselves had read only "from here to here" (1a).

     ♦ Это же вдуматься: земля - тюрьма, кругом запреты, всё нормировано от сих до сих, всё разгорожено и перегорожено, ходи только так, живи только так (Кузнецов 1). When you came to think of it, the whole world was a prison: restrictions on all sides; everything laid down within precise limits; everything concreted up and divided off: you can go only here, live only like this... (1b).