top-heavy

adjective · 17th century

A marvelous bit of maritime engineering applied to the unsteady gait of the intoxicated.

Describing a person who is so drunk that they are liable to topple over.

In the wild

“The sailor was so top-heavy after his shore leave that he required two men to help him aboard.”

Origin

Emerging in the 17th century as a nautical metaphor, it describes a vessel or person whose center of gravity is dangerously unstable.