Etymology Journal · H
Head over heels
Meaning
- Falling head over heels describes being deeply and hopelessly in love with someone. It can also describe a clumsy, somersaulting fall, but it is almost exclusively used for romance nowadays.
Romantic, whimsical
Used in a sentence
- They met on a Tuesday and were head over heels by Friday.
- He fell head over heels for her the moment she walked into the coffee shop.
- You can tell they are head over heels because they cannot stop smiling at each other.
The backstory
Originally, the phrase was actually heels over head, which describes the physical act of doing a cartwheel or tumbling. Over time, people flipped the order to represent the feeling of being turned upside down by passion.
Heard in
Nationwide
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