half seas over
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Adjective
half seas over (not comparable)
- (slang, dated) Slightly drunk, or, possibly in meiosis, very drunk.
- 1830, Richard Warner, “chapter XIII”, in Literary Recollections, volume II, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 6, footnote:
- Many of my readers will recollect the memorable night, on which William Pitt and his ingenious friend and jovial compotator, Harry Dundas, went into the House of Commons, in a condition usually described by the phrase "of being half seas over."
- 1823, Anon, The Spirit of the Public Journals for the Year MDCCCXXIII
- They strutted into the box department at the English Opera House, on the preceding night at half price, and half-seas-over — whether with cape, blackstrap, or blue ruin, did not appear. Two of them were particularly half-seas-over, viz. — Mr. Bob Dodd and Mr. Will. Wood; the other, Mr. Fred. Hughes, was but so so.
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Usage notes
The phrase is used only predicatively.
Synonyms
- See Thesaurus:drunk
References
- half seas over in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
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