full as... adj.
used in various phrs. to mean very drunk; occas. used lit. of food (e.g. cite c.1855 at full as an egg).
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Bartholomew Fair IV iv: I’ll ne mare, I is e’en as vull as a paiper’s bag, by my troth. | |
| Derbyshire Courier 27 Dec. 3/7: ‘I’ve more grub than I can well peck; I’m full as a butt’. | |
| Warwickshire Word-Book 276: As full as a blow’d mouse. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Dec. 36/3: ‘You’ll try some fruit, then?’ / ‘No, I couldn’t. I’m full as a frog.’. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:i 80: full as a fiddle, adj. Badly intoxicated. | |
| Jim of the Ranges 8: Full as a dook, he is an’ needin’ me ter take the team down the sidin’. | |
| Sun (NY) 9 Apr. 10/7: [List provided by a doctor in the alcoholic ward at Bellevue — terms from ambulance drivers] [...] full of bug juice, full of suds, full as a bed bug. | |
| Riverslake 210: He’s full as a fiddler’s bitch. | |
| in Tharunka 13 June 14/5: I am not going to insult your intelligence [...] by pretending that I haven't had a drink because I have [...] But I'm not full ladies and gentlemen. I am not full. | |
| (con. 1959) Up the Cross 87: The place was as full as a butcher at a picnic. | |
| Traveller’s Tool 26: Even if I was as full as three race trains. [Ibid.] 58: You can sometimes fall out of a jumbo as full as a footie final. | |
| Dinkum Aussie Dict. 26: Full as a: The start of many expressions; ‘full as a butcher’s pup’, ‘full as a goog’ and ‘full as a state school’ to name but three. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 82: full as [...] a fart/a footy test [...] Very drunk or full of food. ANZ C20. | |
| Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] I’m full as a Centrelink on payday. | |
| Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] Dad’s mate Russ was as full as the last bus. | |
| Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] VITAL AUSSIE VERNACULAR When You’re Full: ‘Full as a doctor’s wallet’. |
In phrases
 | Burnie Advocate (Tas.) 4 Apr. 7/6: He exclaimed, ‘I am well on the beer to-night, sergeant. I am as full as a boot’. | |
| Canberra Times (ACT) 23 Dec. 3/5: Constable Chapman jumped on to the running board and told the defendant to get out. McCauley replied ‘I cannot. I am as full as a boot’. | |
| Sundowners 304: ‘Full as a boot,’ Mrs. Bateman said. | |
| Shiralee 86: Full as a boot and happy as Larry. | |
| Aussie Eng. (1966) 40: The way you get if you drink too much [...] ‘Full as a boot’. | |
| Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 123: Just like your father — full as a boot at my wedding. | |
| Lily on the Dustbin 140: Many [women] insisted that while ‘full as a boot’ (also widespread) invariably denoted insobriety, ‘full as a goog’ – a ‘goog’ being a ‘googy egg’ in nursery speech – always and only applied to food. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 47/1: full as a boot very drunk. | |
| Lingo 190: The primary colloquial meaning of full is to be excessively affected by alcohol, as in full as a boot. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. | |
| Through Eyes of Child 65: Always, after a day at the races, he would lob home as full as a boot. |
| Townsville Dly Bulletin 21 Sept. 5/6: Yer can get as full as a bull on it [i.e. undiluted um], wake up in two hours dead sober without an ache or pain, an' repeat the dose. | |
| Townsville Dly Bulletin (Qld) 26 Mar. 9/1: One day he came back to camp as full as a bull pup. | |
| Wayleggo (1953) 103: I was ‘as full as a bull’ and ripe for anything. | |
| Gun in My Hand 44: I spose ya’ll get as full as a bull at this reunion. | |
| Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 97: A bloke’d have to be as full as a bull’s bum to come at that. | |
| (con. 1941) Gunner 233: Christ! I’m pissed! Full as a bull! | |
| in Tharunka 13 June 14/5: I’m sorry ladies and gentlemen I’m as full as a Catholic school. I’m as full as a bull's bum. | |
| Traveller’s Tool 20: Uncle Nev got as full as a bull’s bum. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 47/1: full as a bull [...] very drunk. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
| Traveller’s Tool 96: We were all out on the town as full as a fairy’s phone book. | |
| Sydney Morn. Herald 7 June 35/5: It doesn’t matter if he’s in the grip of the grape and full as a fairy’s phonebook. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 82: full as a [...] fairy’s phonebook [...] Very drunk or full of food. ANZ C20. |
| Poughkeepsie Jrnl (NY) 22 Aug. 1/8: He went home ‘full as a goat’ that night, kicked her out of bed. | |
| N.Y. Mercury in (1909) 138/1: New Arrival: ‘I want a bed.’ Clerk : ‘Can’t have one, sir ; they’re all full.’ N. A.: ‘Then I’ll sleep with the landlord.’ Clerk: ‘Can’t do it, sir. He’s full, too; fuller than a goat, and has been for three days.’. | |
| Salina Dly Republican (KS) 25 Sept. 3/2: Full as a Goat — Libel on that animal, which never drinks. | |
| ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:i 80: full as a goat, adj. Badly intoxicated. | |
| Maison De Shine 269: All the gelmun’s as full as goats, Mis’ Trippit! | |
| Harrisburg Teleg. (PA) 30 May 6/2: ‘My head’s clear as a bell! But [...] you are full as a goat’’. | |
| ‘The Golden Horseshoe’ Continental Op (1975) 54: Before long we were as full as a pair of goats. | |
| Rat on Fire (1982) 10: He’s drunker’n a goat himself. |
| Pittsburgh Dly Post (PA) 9 Aug. 1/7: Here [i.e. ‘Wagoner’s Tavern’] he would dai[l]y fill himself full as a goose and carry away a bucket full outside of his carcass. | |
| Cambridge City Trib. (IN) 5 June 2/3: Tom had been drinking from a black bottle and was full as a goose and bent on having a fight . | |
| Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa (1887) 128: He had been fuller’n a goose ever since New Year’s Day. | |
| Dixon Eve. Teleg. (IL) 22 May 1/2: Ephriam was full as a goose and quite as void of sense. | |
| Boston Post (MA) 19 Dec. 17/2: Bill Hepburn [...] will celebrate his Christmas by [...] getting full as a goose. | |
| Portsmouth Dly Times 7 Sept. 4/4: Selby [...] was as full as a goose and vowed that he would clean up on the whole neighborhood. He quieted down like a little lamb when the police officers arrived. | |
| Belleville Telescope (KS) 14 Aug. 9/2: One wholesale house will have [...] to fire a drunken drummer [...] He has been here twice lately and on both occasions was as full as a goose. | |
| ‘Folk “Sayings”From Indiana’ in AS XIV:4 263: Of an intoxicated man it is said that he is ‘full as a tick,’ ‘full as a goose,’ ‘drunk as a lord,’ ‘three sheets to the wind’. | |
| ‘Influence of Amer. Sl. on Aus.’ in AS XVIII:4 256: We say full as a goog where Americans would say pie-eyed, plastered or tanked. | |
| ‘On the Basic Wage’ Aus. First and Last 137: As full as a goog on pay night, / As sick as a dog next day. | |
| (con. 1944) Rats in New Guinea 7: You’re full as a goog. | |
| Aussie Swearers Guide 52: Non-Aussies are sometimes surprised to hear that rotten is basic Australian for ‘drunk’. There is also a whole boozey flood of alternatives available, among them blithered, full as a goog, half-cut, molo and snockered. | |
| Lily on the Dustbin 140: Standard compilations of colloquial speech give ‘full as a goog’ as a term for drunkenness, and it is used in this way among men. [...] Several women, however, gave ‘full as a goog’ as a term meaning replete with food. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 47/1: full as a goog (egg) very drunk. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
| Sun (NY) 14 Nov. 1/3: Foley entered the room drunk [...] ‘Hallo, Foley,’ said O’Brien, ‘I see you’re full as a lord again’. | |
| Nebraska State Jrnl (Lincoln, NE) 18 Mar. 4/2: In the evening he turned up full as a lord, and his frontispiece looking as though it had come in contact with the hard side of a grindstone. | |
| Sun. News (Wilkes-Barre, PA) 1 Jan. 7/5: To drown his sorrow the masher got full of whiskey and he was notice there as full as a lord. | |
| Times-Democrat (New Orleans) 11 Feb. pt 3 5/6: In this famous hostelry [...] Clay, Webster and their contemporaries ‘used to mix julips [sic] and get as full as a lord’. |
| [perf.] ‘The Cork Leg’ 🎵 One day he'd stuffed as full as an egg / When a poor relation came to beg. | |
| Pictorial Aus. (Adelaide) 1 Aug. 123/1: ‘It’s mighty good-natured some people can be when they have a skin full of good liquor’ [...] (In a louder key) ‘I’ll lay ye now that the master’s as full as an egg’. | |
| Lantern (N.O.) 6 Aug. 2: Ed did come home full as an egg. | |
| North. Territory Times (Darwin) 11 July 7/3: When you can’t say conshishusion [...] And you try to drink the goldfish you’re as full as any egg. | |
| I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 233/1: full as an egg – completely drunk. | |
| They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 174: I’ll turn up as full as an egg. | |
| Aussie Eng. (1966) 40: The way you get if you drink too much. ‘Full as an egg.’. |
| Traveller’s Tool 71: I’ve been known to get as full as a pommie complaint box. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 82: full as a [...] Pommie complaint box [...] Very drunk or full of food. ANZ C20. | |
| Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] VITAL AUSSIE VERNACULAR When You’re Full: [...] ‘Full as a Pommy complaint box’. |
| Traveller’s Tool 59: There’s a good chance you hit the cot as full as a seaside shithouse on Bank Holiday. | |
| Books III 11/1: Drunkards ‘as full as a seaside shithouse on Boxing day’. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 82: full as a [...] seaside shithouse on Waitangi Day [...] Very drunk or full of food. ANZ C20. | |
| ‘From Ocker in Bangkok’ in www.mail-archive.com 🌐 I’d had a drink, a few light refreshments. Frankly, I was as full as a seaside shithouse on Boxing Day. |
| Argus (Melbourne) 24 Dec. 2/8: ‘The holiday season,’ said the great doctor [...] ‘is with us. It is a time of escape and of merry-making. Life is very full — ’ ‘That gives me an idea,’ I said [...] "Too late,’ he answered. ‘It was half past six by your pulse about a quarter of an hour ago. You were then as full as a State school’. | |
| Down by the Dockside 212: He arrived plastered to the eyeballs, full as a State school. | |
| Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 121: We’ve only just left Heathrow and you’re as full as a Catholic school already. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 47/1: full as a Catholic school [...] very drunk. | |
| Lingo 191: [...] (though heard little in these happily post-sectarian times) as full as a catholic school, the retort to which was, of course, as full as a state school. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. | |
| Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] VITAL AUSSIE VERNACULAR When You’re Full: [...] ‘Full as a state school hat rack’. |
| New Jersey Almanac 1823 n.p.: Though of love I’m as full as a tick [DA]. | |
| Omnibus I i: Och, we’ll have the house as full as a tick. | |
| Journal (1915) 14: We [...] yoked up our cattle which were as full as ticks, started out into the broad road [DA]. | |
| Six Days in the Metropolis 7: ‘ull as a tick, ma’am,’ said a man who [...] had rather be thought wanting in gallantry than to vacate his seat. | |
| Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 6 Feb. 6/4: To be frank, Julius got as full as a tick. | |
| ‘The Madness of Private Ortheris’ in Plain Tales from the Hills (1890) 266: An’ you full as a tick, an’ the sun cool. | |
| Sporting Times 18 Jan. 4/4: You were as full as a tick, and only made matters worse. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Dec. 31/2: He’d been soakin’, an’ was fuller’n a tick. | |
| ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:i 80: full as a tick, adj. Badly intoxicated. | |
| ‘Word-List From Western New York’ in DN III:vi 441: full as a tick, adj. phr. Very full. Used frequently of the effects of eating, rather than of intoxication. ‘That horse can’t travel, he’s full as a tick.’. | |
| Jonah 226: ’Ard luck to grudge a man a pint, with ’is own missis inside there gittin’ as full as a tick. | |
| ‘Terms Of Disparagement’ in DN IV:iii 220: full as a fiddle, tick, [...] badly intoxicated. ‘I have seen the Hale boys full as ticks more than once.’. | |
| Stiffs 251: I just thought poor old jake must be full as a tick. | |
| Geelong Advertiser (Vic.) 10 Mar. 2/8: ‘I think I was drunk [...] in fact I was full as a tick’. | |
| in Rainbow in Morning (1965) 87: As full as a tick. | |
| Macleay Chron. (Kempsey, NSW) 13 Dec. 11/3: Sergt Johnston told defendant to walk up the footpath, and then said: ‘You’re as full as a tick’. | |
| ‘Folk “Sayings” From Indiana’ in AS XIV:4 263: Of an intoxicated man it is said that he is ‘full as a tick’. | |
| ‘Drunk in Sl.’ in AS XVI:1 Jan. 70/1: full as a tick. | |
| Down in the Holler 176: Full as a tick and full as a bullbat in fly-time are common expressions, but mean full of food rather than liquor. | |
| Till Human Voices Wake Us 70: By the time I’d finished [the stew] I felt full as a tick. | |
| Glass Canoe (1982) 24: Some of the boys discovered two old pensioners hard at it beind the bushes [...] Full as ticks. | |
| Lily on the Dustbin 52: They would explain that ‘he’ was ‘full as a tick (or boot)’ or came home ‘all piddle and wind like the barber’s cat’. | |
| ‘Sodden Fields’ in Helsingør Station and Other Departures 62: ‘I’m fullassa tick,’ said Paddy thickly. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 82: full as a [...] tick Very drunk or full of food. ANZ C20. |
| Proverbs I Ch. xi: We had boylde beefe and bake mutton. / Wherof I fed me as full as a tunne. | |
| Epigrams upon Proverbs cxciii: He hath fed tyll he is as full as a toon. |
| (con. 1944) Rats in New Guinea 151: I’ll drive you there and we’ll get as full as the family po where the dog sits on the tucker box nine miles from Gundagai. | |
| Pagan Game (1969) 164: Crook in the guts — Full as a family poe. | |
| Lily on the Dustbin 139: ‘Full as a family jerry (or po)’ seems to be particularly favoured by women and to have had a long currency. | |
| Lingo 191: full as the family po (a reference to the overflowing condition of the family chamber pot). |