Meanings
- AustraliaUKcolloquialTemporarily mentally unstable; very distressed.
The kettles they boiled with rage, 'tis said/While ev'ry nail went off its head[…]
1881, “The Magnet and the Churn”, William S. Gilbert (lyrics), Sir Arthur Sullivan (music)1 more example
When I had finished I went and saw poor Leo, who was quite off his head, and did not even know me.
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC - AustraliaUKcolloquialUnder the influence of drugs.
The music is turned up over the conversations, which span global politics, the latest Beyoncé track and anything else randomly entering the minds of us intelligent, but off our heads, savvy young adults.
2017, James Wharton, Something for the Weekend, Biteback Publishing, →ISBN1 more example
Occasionally they seem to go off their heads. Something like epilepsy, you know. It's called Robot's cramp. They'll suddenly sling down everything they're holding, stand still, gnash their teeth—and then they have to go into the stamping-mill. It's evidently some breakdown in the mechanism.
c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act 1Synonyms: off one's face
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseInsane, crazy.
prepositional phraseUnder the influence of drugs.
Translations
Chinese 毒癮發作 /毒瘾发作
- 毒癮發作 /毒瘾发作under the influence of drugs
Cite this entry
off one's head. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/off%20one's%20head
“off one's head.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/off%20one's%20head. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “off one's head,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/off%20one's%20head.
Source: off one's head on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.