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can't make head or tail of
Idioms and Phrases
Also can't make heads or tails of . Fail to understand, be quite confused about, as in I can't make head or tail of these directions . A version of this term dates back to Roman times, when Cicero wrote Ne caput nec pedes (âneither head nor feetâ) to describe confusion. In the current idiom the precise allusion is unclear: head and tail may mean top and bottom, beginning and end, or the two sides of a coin. [Second half of 1600s]Example Sentences
If you canât make head or tail of whatâs going on with Brexit at this moment, what with all the stalled votes and extended deadlines and general turmoil, I promise youâre not alone in your befuddlement.
I still canât make head or tail of Peter.
As upsetting as this is, I really canât make head or tail of it.
âI canât make head or tail of it.â
I canât make head or tail of it,â she told The Daily Telegraph.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American HeritageŸ Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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