Meaning
Said of alcohol that quickly makes you dizzy or unlike yourself, and of praise, success, or power that makes you conceited. Both senses share the idea of something rising to the head, the seat of judgement, and unsettling it. Informal; frequently used in warnings and reproaches about drink or vanity. Regional use: General English.
Origin
Both senses are dated to the mid-1800s by Christine Ammer's idiom dictionary. The earliest quotation in Wiktionary, from 1886, is explicitly about drink: 'That one glass has gone to my head, that is, touched my brain' (Gough and Abbott, Platform Echos). The conceit sense is illustrated by 1903, when the Idler magazine describes a promise that 'had gone to my head like new wine'. The metaphor works because intoxication literally reaches the brain and because English treats the head as the seat of reason, so success is figured as another intoxicant. The related picture of a physically swelling head belongs to separate idioms, 'swelled head' and 'big head', which Ammer also records; the swelling image should not be credited to this phrase.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- don't let it go to your head
- go to one's head
- gone to your head
- it went straight to her head
Usage Examples
- One glass of champagne always goes to her head, so she sticks to water at receptions.
- The promotion went to his head for a month, and then the workload sobered him up.
- Do not let the applause go to your head; the critics arrive next week.