at loggerheads

at loggerheads

English

WOTD – 24 January 2010

Etymology

Uncertain; possibly from the use of a loggerhead (“metal tool consisting of a long rod with a bulbous end”) as a weapon during a fight.[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /æt ˈlɒɡəhɛdz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /æt ˈlɔɡɚˌhɛdz/, /ˈlɑ-/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: at log‧ger‧heads

Prepositional phrase

at loggerheads

1. (figuratively) Unable to agree; opposing.

   We were really at loggerheads about what to do with the money we found on the side of the road; she said we should turn it in, I said we should keep it.

Translations

unable to agree; opposing

Chinese: Mandarin: 分歧 (zh) (fēnqí), 不和 (zh) (bùhé) Finnish: napit vastakkain, tukkanuottasilla French: comme chien et chat (fr) (literally “like a cat and dog”), diamétralement opposés German: auf Kriegsfuß, in den Haaren Icelandic: elda grátt silfur Italian: ai ferri corti Maori: pōngurunguru Norwegian: Bokmål: som hund og katt Russian: в ссо́ре (v ssóre), несогла́сный (ru) (nesoglásnyj), как ко́шка с соба́кой (ru) (kak kóška s sobákoj, literally “like a cat and dog”), на ножа́х (na nožáx) Spanish: de pique, a la greña

See also

• at sixes and sevens

References

1. “loggerhead, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1903.