over head and ears

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

over head and ears (not comparable)

1. (informal) Completely; wholly; hopelessly; head over heels.

   They were over head and ears in debt.

   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LXII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 164–165:

     “Well, I must say, it is a comfort to have any body like you about one, Helen, for Georgiana […] is really over head and ears in love with that sailor […]; she thinks of nothing else, I am convinced, though the most spirit-stirring affair in the world is on the tapis—your brother Glentworth’s election.”