German · At the Bar
voll wie eine Haubitze
FOLL vee INE-uh how-BIT-suh · /fɔl viː ˈaɪ.nə haʊ.ˈbɪt.sə/
Drunk as a lord / completely wasted
2/5 Bar-safe
coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances
Literally
"Full as a howitzer"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
A gloriously specific idiom: "voll" (full) is the standard slang for drunk, and here it's cranked up to artillery scale. German has a whole armoury of these — "voll wie eine Strandhaubitze" (a beach howitzer), "blau wie ein Veilchen" (blue as a violet). Deploy for comic effect; it always lands.
Heard in the wild
Am Ende war er voll wie eine Haubitze.
By the end he was drunk as a lord.
Where it lands
Germany — colloquial, all ages
Quick answers
- What does "voll wie eine Haubitze" mean?
- In German, "voll wie eine Haubitze" means "Drunk as a lord / completely wasted". Literally it's "Full as a howitzer". A gloriously specific idiom: "voll" (full) is the standard slang for drunk, and here it's cranked up to artillery scale. German has a whole armoury of these — "voll wie eine Strandhaubitze" (a beach howitzer), "blau wie ein Veilchen" (blue as a violet). Deploy for comic effect; it always lands.
- Is "voll wie eine Haubitze" offensive?
- It's on the mild end — 2/5 (Bar-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances.
- How do you pronounce "voll wie eine Haubitze"?
- Say it "FOLL vee INE-uh how-BIT-suh" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: fɔl viː ˈaɪ.nə haʊ.ˈbɪt.sə.
Related in German
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