brick in one's hat en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
US, circa 1846. Presumably due to staggering walk when drunk; compare top-heavy with drink.
Meanings
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(New-England, idiomatic, obsolete) Drunkenness.
Her husband had taken to the tavern, and often came home very late, “with a brick in his hat,” as Sally expressed it.
1849, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Kavanagh, pages 177–178:Seated at the same table with our Mr.—, was a gentleman, who, to use the current phrase, ‘had a brick in his hat.’
1846 November 14, “Magnelia Pedestria; or, Leaves from a Pedestrian’s Note Book”, in The Yale Literary Magazine, volume 12, number 1, page 33:
Relateds
thorn in one's side · flea in one's ear · frog in one's throat · ants in one's pants · wolf in one's stomach