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You are here: Home / Language / What does the expression “neither head nor tail of a matter” mean and Where does it originate?

What does the expression “neither head nor tail of a matter” mean and Where does it originate?

February 17, 2020 by Karen Hill

The expression “neither head nor tail” means: neither one thing nor another; nothing definite nor positive: usually in such construction as, I can make neither head nor tail of this story.

In the expression, which dates back to the seventeenth century, head means “beginning” and tail means “end”; hence, I can understand neither beginning nor end of this story.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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