make head or tail of

present singular third person makes head or tail of · participle present making head or tail of · participle past made head or tail of · past made head or tail of · alternative US make heads or tails of

1. idiomaticTo understand even minimally.

   See if you can make head or tail of the last section in this chapter. I'm baffled.

   2 more examples

   'I cannot make head or tail of it,' confessed Miss Barrowford, as the senseful fingers crossed and recrossed the scrawl, now following a vague spidery line, now drawn where no visible mark appeared to lead. 'Is there any meaning, do you think?'

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

   IT has been such a headliny week, what with [Nikita] Khrushchev and all, events moving swiftly, frenzied activity in a wide variety of fields, action and reaction, tests, blasts, notes and comments that nobody except the Alsop Brothers seem to be able to make head or tail of it in the modest compass of a small column.

   1961 September 2, Silenus [pseudonym], “Before the Judge: No Smoking”, in Victoria Daily Times, volume 128, number 205, Victoria, B.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5, column 1

   Antonyms: make head nor tail of, make neither head nor tail of

2. To determine to be good or bad.