heads or tails
Preserved but no longer current.
Guess whether the coin tossed up will come down with head-side uppermost or not. The side not bearing the head has various devices, which are all in- cluded in the word tail, meaning opposite to the head. The ancient Romans used to play this game, but said, "Heads or ships.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “heads or tails” mean?
Guess whether the coin tossed up will come down with head-side uppermost or not. The side not bearing the head has various devices, which are all in- cluded in the word tail, meaning opposite to the head. The ancient Romans used to play this game, but said, "Heads or ships.
Is “heads or tails” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.