to go over someone's head
1
7.5
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
pasar por encima de alguien
- Going over people's heads should be the "only thing."
Examples
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We need to go over the Village Board's head, appeal to the governor.
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Going over your immediate boss's head will achieve nothing but your demise.
Blog text (25) -
I'm going to the commission, over Stephen's head.
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Sometimes going over people's heads isn't a good thing.
Blog text (3) -
We don't want to go over someone's head.
Blog text (21) -
Well I went over Dawson's head straight to the governor's office, and some of those New Era workers were brought in with chemical burns.
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Annie, being Annie, can't let things lie and calls Arthur, going right over Joan's head.
Blog text (18) -
Still, sometimes other strategies are necessary to figure out how you can get to a better place for yourself—whether that means going over saboteurs' heads, finding a different job, or confronting them head-on—these sorts of conflicts don't have a "one size fits all" solution.
Blog text (3) -
Sometimes you have to go over someone's head to get your concerns heard by management.
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She decided to go over her supervisor's head and speak directly to the director about her project.
How High
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'go' + 'over' + 'head' evoke literal motion above a person's head, which only metaphorically maps onto the idea of something being beyond a person's understanding. Because the connection relies on a figurative spatial-to-cognitive mapping that is not strictly compositional, a B1 learner who knows the words might not reliably derive the idiomatic sense without prior exposure.
Etymology
Go over someone's head paints a simple picture: you step past the person in charge and speak to someone above them, as if you had gone over their head. So, it means 'to bypass someone with authority'.