/ · 1894 Brewer’s · H · Head and Ears
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Over head and ears [in debt, in love, etc.], completely; entirely. The allusion is to a person immersed in water. The French phrase is “Avoir des dettes pardessus la tête.”
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.