head-scratching

Language: en

Meaning: (idiomatic)Confusing,perplexing,puzzling.1849June, Michael South, “The Peace Campaigns of Ensign Faunce.[Part III. Chapter XIV.]”, inFraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XXXIX, number CCXXXIV, London:John W[illiam] Parker,West Strand,→OCLC,page679, column 1: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-scratchingreaders, 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, Chicago, Ill.:Triumph Books,→OCLC:Yogi Berrais best known as a Hall of Fame catcher with the 1950s Yankees and for spoutinghead-scratchingmalapropisms 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, “Amateur Hour”, inMeet Me in Atlantis: My Obsessive Quest to Find the Sunken City, New York, N.Y.:Dutton,→ISBN,page39:For someone who professed such deep respect for numbers,Platocertainly used somehead-scratchingones in his Atlantis story. The dates don't match up even remotely with ancient history.

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