stewed to the gills

stewed to the gills

old-fashioned slang Extremely drunk. Whenever she goes for a night out with her friends, she always comes back stewed to the gills. Good luck explaining that to him. You can't talk a lick of sense to Barry when he's stewed to the gills like that.

See also: gill, stewed, to

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

stewed to the gills

and stewed to the ears

mod. alcohol intoxicated. When I get stewed to the gills, I usually fall asleep, right then and there. Here’s old Charlie—stewed to the ears, as always.

See also: gill, stewed, to

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

stewed to the gills

Extremely drunk. The noun gills here has nothing to do with the breathing organs of fish, but rather was slang for a stand-up collar. Consequently to the gills came to mean “up to one’s neck” or “completely,” and in the early 1900s stewed, for soaked in liquor, was added.

See also: gill, stewed, to

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer