from head to toe

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.

See also: head, to, toe

head to toe

Encompassing one's entire body; 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.

See also: head, to, toe

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

from head to toe

Fig. from the top of one's head to one's feet. She was decked out in flowers from head to toe. The huge parka covered the small child from head to toe, assuring that she would be well-protected against the cold.

See also: head, to, toe

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

from head to toe

Also, from head to heels or foot ; from tip or top to toe . Over the entire body, in its entirety. For example, He was dressed in black from head to toe, or She ached all over, from tip to toe. These expressions date from ancient times. The alliterative head to heels originated about 1400, and Shakespeare had "from top to toe" in Hamlet (1:2).

See also: head, to, toe

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

from head to toe

or

from head to foot

COMMON You use from head to toe or from head to foot to talk about the whole of someone's body. She was covered from head to toe with black and blue marks. She was trembling from head to foot. Note: You can also just say head to toe or head to foot. She was dressed head to toe in black. The boy is wrapped head to foot in a green blanket. Note: You can use head-to-toe or head-to-foot before a noun. He turned up clad in head-to-toe black. Standing against the wall was this man in head-to-foot leather. Compare with from top to toe.

See also: head, to, toe

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

from head to toe (or foot)

all over your body.

See also: head, to, toe

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

from ˌhead to ˈfoot/ˈtoe

all over your body; completely: She was dressed from head to foot in white. ♢ He was covered from head to foot in mud.

See also: foot, head, to, toe

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

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