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half seas over. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
half seas over, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Pronunciation
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, anonymous author, 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