heads or tails
The practice of flipping a coin in the air, to choose between two alternatives based on which side lands face up.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Let's flip a coin for heads or tails to decide.”
“You choose heads or tails to see who starts the game.”
“We could not agree on which movie to watch, so we settled it with a quick game of heads or tails.”
“Since both candidates had the same number of votes for the club president role, they used heads or tails to pick the winner.”
“Faced with two equally unappealing options, he decided to leave his fate to chance by calling heads or tails on a spinning coin.”
first recorded 19th c.
Attested since at least 1833, the phrase appears on the second page of the newspaper Galignani’s Messenger. The text describes a scene of idle diversion, recording men amusing themselves by pitching quoits, drinking beer, smoking, and spoiling halfpence at heads or tails with gingerbread merchants. The term persists as the standard designation for the two sides of a coin, though the gingerbread merchants have long since vacated the premises.
- 01
bang one's head against a brick wall
To waste effort on a futile project.
- 02
bang some heads together
Attempt to get results from a previously ineffectual or argumentative group, typically by coercion or force.
- 03
bash someone's head
To beat up someone violently.
- 04
big head
An inflated ego, an exaggerated belief in one's own importance.
- 05
bite someone's head off
To severely berate someone.
- 06
blow someone's head off
To shoot someone in the head.
- 07
bury one's head in the sand
To deliberately ignore the reality of a situation; to pretend a problem does not exist.
- 08
butt heads
To argue uncompromisingly.
Last updated August 10, 2026