from head/top to heels/toe/foot

(from) top to toe

Encompassing one's entire body; from one's head to one's feet. Typically refers to how one is dressed and groomed. This is a fancy event, so you need to look good from top to toe. Schedule a haircut and shine your shoes. We're going to church today, so be sure to clean the kids top to toe. A: "Are you getting your hair done?" B: "Of course. For a gala event like this, you have to look glamorous from top to toe."

See also: to, toe, top

from head to foot

Encompassing one's entire body; from top to bottom. Typically refers to how one is dressed and groomed. This is a fancy event, so you need to look good from head to foot. Schedule a haircut and shine your shoes. We're going to church today, so be sure to clean the kids from head to foot. A: "Are you getting your hair done?" B: "Of course. For a gala event like this, you have to look glamorous from head to foot."

See also: foot, head, to

from head to heels

Encompassing one's entire body; from top to bottom. Typically refers to how one is dressed and groomed. This is a fancy event, so you need to look good from head to heels. Schedule a haircut and shine your shoes. We're going to church today, so be sure to clean the kids from head to heels. A: "Are you getting your hair done?" B: "Of course. For a gala event like this, you have to look glamorous from head to heels."

See also: head, heel, to

from head to toe

Encompassing one's entire body; from top to bottom. Typically refers to how one is dressed and groomed. This is a fancy event, so you need to look good from head to toe. Schedule a haircut and shine your shoes. We're going to church today, so be sure to clean the kids from head to toe. A: "Are you getting your hair done?" B: "Of course. For a gala event like this, you have to look glamorous from head to toe."

See also: head, to, toe

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

from head/top to heels/toe/foot

One’s entire body; totally. The earliest of these slightly varied expressions is from head to foot, which Homer used in the Iliad, Aristophanes in Plutus, Plautus in several plays, and many others after them. Shakespeare used from top to toe in Hamlet (1.2). The alliterative head to heels, dating from about 1400, was favored by the English poet William Cowper (Anti-Thelypthora, 1781): “So polished and compact from head to heel.” See also stem to stern.

See also: foot, head, heel, to, toe, top

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