TO HAVE A SWOLLEN HEAD, verb. phr. (common).—1. To put on airs; to be filled with a violent sense of one’s own importance. Also (2) to be drunk: see SCREWED. Also SWELLED-HEAD.
1898. N. GOULD, Landed at Last, vi. You have got a SWOLLEN HEAD this morning…. Had too much to drink last night.
1900. HUME NISBET, In Sheep’s Clothing, iv. iii. The candid friend is like a black draught; wholesome, perhaps, during periods of plethora and SWOLLEN HEAD, but decidedly debilitating if too long continued.
