Meaning
Utterly and helplessly caught up in a feeling, especially romantic love, as in 'head over heels in love'. A literal sense describing a topsy-turvy tumble or somersault also survives, but modern usage is overwhelmingly about infatuation, and occasionally about crushing debt or enthusiasm. Informal and lighthearted, now almost a fixed companion of 'in love'. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The logical original was 'heels over head', describing a somersault or tumble; the Phrase Finder dates that wording to the 14th century and notes it still turned up in the 19th, as in Carlyle's 'heels-over-head' in History of Frederick the Great (1864). At some point the elements flipped into 'head over heels', an order that literally describes standing upright, yet the illogical form won out. Merriam-Webster gives 1694 as the first known use of the inverted wording, while the Phrase Finder's earliest citation is Herbert Lawrence's Contemplative Man (1771), with a violent kick that drove a man 'head over heels'. The romantic sense developed after the phrase crossed the Atlantic: the Phrase Finder cites 'overhead and heels in love' from the Ballyshannon Herald of September 1832 and 'head over heels in love' from the Lebanon Patriot of Indiana, June 1833, both printed without explanation, suggesting the expression was already familiar.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- fall head over heels
- head over ears
- head over heels in love
- heels over head
Usage Examples
- By the end of the harvest festival, Priya was head over heels for the volunteer coordinator.
- He fell head over heels for the coastal town and had bought a cottage before the tour ended.
- They were head over heels in debt after renovating the theatre, though the opening-night reviews made it feel worthwhile.