under the influence

Idioms and Phrases

Impaired functioning owing to alcohol consumption, as in He was accused of driving under the influence . This expression, from legal jargon, is short for under the influence of intoxicating liquor and implies that one is not completely drunk. Since it is nearly always applied to drivers suspected or so accused, it has given rise to the police acronym DUI , for “driving under the influence.” [Second half of 1800s]

Example Sentences

While Sawusch was under the influence, Flores changed the two-factor authentication on Sawusch’s brokerage account to go to Flores’ phone, then initiated two $1-million wire transfers that ended up in his and Moore’s bank accounts.

From Los Angeles Times

Payne seemed to already be under the influence of drugs at that point and didn’t eat anything, Paiz said.

From Los Angeles Times

Zehme explained that if Carson was under the influence, he would go on a “rampage, and whomever he had been only moments prior would be instantly displaced by an unrecognizable hellion . . . Occasionally he would wake the next day to discover that some such havoc had bruised the flesh of his sons’ mother.”

From Salon

In private, he was not only cold and aloof but a lackluster father and a hard-drinking womanizer who, when under the influence, sometimes got physical with his wives.

From Los Angeles Times

The driver of the car that hit the officers’ vehicle was a juvenile, who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, police said.

From Los Angeles Times