too clever by half1 INTELLIGENT British EnglishBrE spoken to be clever, and to show that you are clever in a way that annoys other people 精明过头be too clever by half• Phil's good at thinking up excuses for his behaviour - he's too clever by half.
→ be too clever by half at clever(2)
2 British EnglishBrE informalANNOY very clever, rich etc in an annoying way 聪明/富有/好等过了头 That boy’s too arrogant by half. 那个男孩太傲慢了。
too clever/rich/good etc by half• The arithmetic can not be faulted - and may well be judged too clever by half.
→ too clever/rich/good etc by half at half2(6)