at loggerheads

English

WOTD – 24 January 2010

Etymology

Origin 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

(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
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

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

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