head in the clouds

head in the clouds

1. (figurative, usually with have or with) Used to indicate that a person is distracted or disconnected from the present situation or reality in general.
2. (figurative, usually with have or with) Used to indicate that a person has fantastic or impractical dreams.
   • 1917, Henry Handel Richardson, chapter III, in Australia Felix, part III:

     "Wife, I've a grave suspicion!" said Mahony, and took her by the chin. "While I've sat here with my head in the clouds, you've been worrying over ways and means, and over having such an unpractical old dreamer for a husband. Now, child, that won't do. I didn't marry to have my girl puzzling her little brains where her next day's dinner was to come from. Away with you, to your stitching! Things will be all right, trust to me."

   • 1994, Roy F. Baumeister, Sara R. Wotman, Breaking Hearts: The Two Sides of Unrequited Love, page 72:

     She was also one of the few girls without her head in the clouds.

   • 1860, “Poor Law Doctors”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round, volumes 3-4, page 211:

     No one ever expected him to work; he would see his little sister stooping under the weight of the great milk-pails, and never think of helping her; he lived with his head in the clouds, but his father said, "Let him alone, he'll be a great man some day."

• cloud nine (possibly nonstandard)

• feet on the ground

• cloud-headed