top-heavy with drink

adj

"top-heavy-with-drink" is a 17-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“top-heavy with drink” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
20
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - drunk

Corpus desk

Index EN-top-heavy-with-drink · top-heavy with drink · English

top-heavy with drink · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 20 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "T" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for top-heavy with drink
PropertyValue
Headwordtop-heavy with drink
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters20
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “top-heavy with drink” sits in English frequency

top-heavy with drink falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

top-heavy with drink is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "drunk".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for top-heavy with drink, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: US, late 19th century. Due to staggering walk when drunk; compare brick in one's hat. The correct English form is top-heavy with drink, spelled T-O-P---H-E-A-V-Y- -W-I-T-H- -D-R-I-N-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    drunk

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how top-heavy with drink appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. To have a brick in one’s hat, verb. phr. (American).—To be top-heavy with drink. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.
  2. Imagine yourself about to embark on the New York Limited Express for the eastern metropolis; the train made up of ten Pullman passenger, two baggage and one express cars; with an engineer top-heavy with drink, a conductor braced up to a degree of conviviality, the train-dispatchers along the line overworked and sleepy.

Etymology

US, late 19th century. Due to staggering walk when drunk; compare brick in one's hat.

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "top-heavy with drink"?
"top-heavy with drink" is spelled T-O-P---H-E-A-V-Y- -W-I-T-H- -D-R-I-N-K.
What does "top-heavy with drink" mean?
As an adjective, "top-heavy with drink" means: drunk
What is the origin of the word "top-heavy with drink"?
US, late 19th century. Due to staggering walk when drunk; compare brick in one's hat. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list