one over the eight
- idiom
- Archaic
- After the second glass of wine, she was already one over the eight.
Examples
-
After a few drinks, he was feeling one over the eight.
-
He admitted feeling one over the eight after celebrating his promotion.
-
You must have been one over the eight to agree to such a wild plan.
-
He is one over the eight!
-
After finishing three cocktails, she was definitely one over the eight at the party.
-
He felt one over the eight after having a couple of beers with his friends.
-
By the end of the night, they were all one over the eight and laughing loudly.
Synonyms
∞
1.6
Having too much alcohol makes your body and mind not work normally
18
4.8
A little drunk after drinking a small amount of alcohol
8
7.7
More than is good, often of food or drink
8
6.5
To be very drunk after drinking too much alcohol
Antonyms
How Drunk
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'one over the eight' is an idiomatic British expression for being slightly drunk; the literal words 'one', 'over' and 'eight' only give a numeric spatial reading and do not signal intoxication. A B1 learner who knows the constituent words would be unlikely to infer the drunkenness meaning without prior exposure, so the expression is unpredictable and language-specific.
Etymology
The idiom one over the eight may come from an old drinking idea: people would count their drinks and treat eight as the safe number, so having one over the eight meant one drink too many. That's why it now means 'slightly drunk'.