Head-scratching

Pronunciation

RP IPA: en, /ËˆhÉ›dskÉ¹atÊƒÉªÅ‹/
GA IPA: en, /ËˆhÉ›dskÉ¹Ã¦tÊƒÉªÅ‹/
Hyphenation: en + head + scratch + ing

Alternative forms

head scratching

Origin

head + scratching, from the fact that many people scratch the side of their head when confused.

Full definition of head-scratching

Adjective

head-scratching

(idiomatic) Confusing, perplexing, puzzling.

1849, Michael South, The Peace Campaigns of Ensign Faunce. III. Chapter XIV., He became for a short time delirious, in consequence of attempting to comprehend the works of Mr. Nebulous, in which the English language is exhibited casting of summersets, with many prancings to and fro, before earnest-gazing, head-scratching readers, in murkiest obscuration, marvel stricken, with maddest humour and grinning contortions, heels-over-head, wondrous!
2009, Frederick C. Klein, For the Love of the Mets: An A-to-Z Primer for Mets Fans of All Ages, Yogi Berra is best known as a Hall of Fame catcher with the 1950s Yankees and for spouting head-scratching malapropisms such as "Ninety per cent of the game is half mental," but he also was a solid baseball man with good managerial instincts.
2015, Mark Adams, Meet Me in Atlantis: My Obsessive Quest to Find the Sunken City Chapter Amateur Hour, For someone who professed such deep respect for numbers, Plato certainly used some head-scratching ones in his Atlantis story. The dates don't match up even remotely with ancient history.

Synonyms

Noun

head-scratching

(plural head-scratchings)

(idiomatic) Confusion.

1869, Carl Bernard, Millyâ€™s Bossy, ... Milly got out of her basket to reconsider the matter. It took some deliberation and head scratching to decide the best method; ...
1936, Leo Huberman, Manâ€™s Worldly Goods: The Story of the Wealth of Nations Chapter â€˜Gold, Greatness, and Gloryâ€™, You remember what a lot of head-scratching the kings had to go through in order to raise money. When there was no extensive and well-developed system of taxation, they were never sure of getting enough cash where they needed it when they needed it.
2010, Frederick W. Turner, The Go-between: A Novel of the Kennedy Years, One morning I just started writing about how w
2011, Richard T. Neer, Judaism and Christian Art: Aesthetic Anxieties from the Catacombs to Colonialism Chapter Poussinâ€™s Useless Treasures, It is possible to spend a long time looking at this inscription. An informal survey of scholars at the University of Chicago, all versed in Hebrew, suggests that the inscription is at once enticing and frustrating, not quite nonsensical enough for immediate dismissal, nor sufficiently cogent actually to yield a reading. Instead, "mystÃ¨re admirable," it invites hours of fruitless headscratching. The beholder, in this situation, winds up in much the same situation as the Pharisees in the picture: pointing, puzzling, and conversing.
24 October 2016, Owen Gibson, Is the unthinkable happening â€“ are people finally switching the football off?, And yet, arresting figures suggesting a decline in early season ratings have prompted an outbreak of soulâ€‘searching at those broadcasters and headâ€‘scratching among analysts.