half seas over

English

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Adjective

half seas over (not comparable)

  1. (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.

Usage notes

The phrase is used only predicatively.

Synonyms

References

  • half seas over in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.