come up with snake eyes
To fail to come up with anything; to get nowhere.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I searched everywhere for my keys but came up with snake eyes.”
“He checks the mailbox every day but always comes up with snake eyes.”
“She looks for a solution in the manual and comes up with snake eyes.”
“We spent all afternoon brainstorming new marketing ideas, but we came up with snake eyes.”
“The police interviewed every witness at the scene, but they came up with snake eyes regarding the suspect's identity.”
“I tried to find a cheap flight for the holiday weekend, but every travel website came up with snake eyes.”
“Despite an exhaustive investigation into the company's financial records, the auditors came up with snake eyes regarding the missing funds.”
From come up with + snake eyes, a term denoting a pair of dice showing a value of one on each face. The name derives from the visual resemblance of the two single pips to the eyes of a serpent. In many dice games, such as craps, this roll constitutes an immediate loss for the player, a failure which the idiom preserves.
- 01
all eyes
Watching alertly or attentively.
- 02
all eyes and ears
Very attentive.
- 03
appetite comes with eating
Starting an activity increases one's desire to continue it.
- 04
as they come
As it is possible to be.
- 05
babies in the eyes
The minute reflection which one sees of oneself in the eyes of another.
- 06
bat one's eyes
To signal or feign by fluttering one's eyelids, as romantic interest.
- 07
bawl one's eyes out
To cry, shed tears, weep loudly.
- 08
believe one's eyes
To believe that something which one directly sees is truly the case.
Last updated August 10, 2026