make head or tail of

English

Alternative forms

make heads or tails of (American)
make head nor tail of (American)

Verb

make head or tail of (third-person singular simple present makes head or tail of, present participle making head or tail of, simple past and past participle made head or tail of)

(idiomatic) To understand even minimally.
See if you can make head or tail of the last section in this chapter. I'm baffled.
He was unable to make head or tail of some of the pattern-solving puzzles in the IQ test.
To determine to be good or bad.

Usage notes

In sense 1, usually with a construction expressing inability, as in "I can't make head or tail of it".

Translations

understand even minimally

Catalan: no té ni cap ni peus (literally “it has neither head nor feet”)
Czech: to nedává ani hlavu ani patu (only negative)
Finnish: ei päätä eikä häntää, ei löytää päätä eikä häntää
French: ^{(please verify)} y comprendre quelque chose (affirmative), ^{(please verify)} ne rien y comprendre (negative), ^{(please verify)} n’avoir ni queue ni tête (fr) (only negative)
German: sich einen Reim darauf machen