half-seas-over
[Seas was prob. a genitive case; half sea's = half of the sea.]
1. Halfway across the sea.
| 1551 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 107 The commodities..w{supc}{suph} ben taken and retorned againe, when they be halfe the seas over. a 1618 Raleigh Invent. Shipping 17 That ride it out at Anchor, half Seas over betweene England and Ireland. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2396/4 About half Seas over, we discovered the Dutch Fleet. 1831 G. Fowler Jrnl. State N. York 8 It was his intention to have kept below until he thought we were about half seas over, when we surely could not have refused to carry him through. |
b. transf. and fig. Halfway towards a goal or destination, half through with a matter; halfway between one state and another.
| 1697 Vanbrugh Relapse iii. ii, That's thinking half-seas over. a 1700 Dryden (J.), I am half-seas over to death. 1755 Mem. Capt. P. Drake I. xiii. 113, I returned them both my sincere Thanks, and thought myself half Seas over. 1823 Byron Juan x. lxi, And hover Upon their airy confine, half-seas-over. |
2. Half-drunk. (humorous.)
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Half Seas over, almost Drunk. 1714 Spect. No. 616. ¶4 Our friend the alderman was half seas over before the bonefire was out. 1880 Spurgeon J. Ploughm. Pict. 42 There's nothing too bad for a man to say or do when he is half-seas over. |