seeing pink elephants

see pink elephants

To hallucinate or see things incorrectly due to acute alcohol intoxication or withdrawal. The phrase became especially popularized by the 1941 Disney animated film Dumbo, in which the title character accidentally becomes drunk and sees a parade of pink elephant hallucinations. My dad said that he saw pink elephants for a while after he gave up drinking. When I started seeing pink elephants, I knew I had to stop drinking so much.
See also: elephant, pink, see
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

seeing pink elephants

 and seeing pink spiders; Seeing snakes
intoxicated; recovering from a drinking bout; having the delirium tremens. When I got to the point of seeing pink elephants, I knew that something had to be done. The old one who's shaking—he's probably seeing snakes.
See also: elephant, pink, seeing
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

seeing pink elephants

and seeing pink spiders and seeing snakes
tv. alcohol intoxicated; recovering from a drinking bout; having the delirium tremens. When I got to the point of seeing pink elephants, I knew that something had to be done. He’s screaming something about seeing pink spiders, and he wants a drink.
See also: elephant, pink, seeing
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • see pink elephants
  • see snakes
  • seeing snakes
  • seeing pink spiders
  • see pink spiders
  • pink spiders
  • not so much
  • beer goggles
  • goggle
  • gone with the wind
References in periodicals archive
MAYBE it was the altitude sickness playing tricks on my mind and seeing pink elephants on safari in Africa.
At least I saw England climb their mountain in style!
My father, the biggest atheist and sceptic ever to walk the earth, told him to go on the wagon before he started seeing pink elephants but my brother was adamant.
DORINDA McCANN; PEOPLE
I thought I was seeing Pink Elephants when this ruddy great Red Setter dashed on to the track from Trap One.
Gambling on Lady Luck .