to go off the deep end
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To get unnecessarily excited. To have it at my finger's end. See FINGER.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to go off the deep end” mean?
To get unnecessarily excited. To have it at my finger's end. See FINGER.
Is “to go off the deep end” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.