Head and mind idioms

Here are some idiomatic expressions involving the word head, brains or mind.

Be able to do something standing on your head

When you are able to do something standing on your head, you are able to do it quickly and easily.

• She is able to sketch portraits standing on her head.

Absent-minded

To be absent minded is to be forgetful.

• My son is very absent-minded and always forgets his things.

All in (one’s) mind

If a problem is all in one’s mind, it is merely a figment of imagination and does not exist.

• The conflict between Julie and her husband is all in her mind. It does not exist.

At one’s wit’s end

When you are at your wit’s end, you are in a stressful situation where you don’t know what to do next.

• I am at my wit’s end. I don’t know how to solve this problem.

Bang one’s head against a brick wall

To bang your head against a brick wall is to waste your time trying to do something impossible.

• My neighbour does not respect my need for privacy. I am banging my head against a brick wall trying to make her understand.
• I am beating my head against a brick wall trying to understand what my wife wants.

Beat one’s brains out

To beat your brains out is to work very hard.

• We beat our brains out but we couldn’t find a good name for the book.

Beat something into someone’s head

To beat something into someone’s head is to force someone to learn something by repeating it.

• The teacher tried to beat the formula into the student’s head.

Bite someone’s head off

To bite someone’s head off is to speak to them angrily.

• I went to my neighbour to apologize for my mistake but she bit my head off.

Blow one’s top

To blow one’s top is to become very angry.

• My father blew his top when he discovered that I had failed my test.

Blow someone’s mind

To blow someone’s mind is to overwhelm them.

• The video blew my mind.

Blow up in one’s face

When something blows up in one’s face, it ends or fails unexpectedly.

• Namitha had always wanted to be a doctor, but her dreams blew up in her face when she failed to clear the entrance test.

Blue in the face

When you are blue in the face, you are very angry or upset.

• He argued with his wife until both of them were blue in the face.