HEADS OR TAILS

Domain	Definition
Literature	Heads or Tails Guess whether the coin tossed up will come down with headside uppermost or not. The side not bearing the head has various devices, sometimes Britannia, sometimes George and the Dragon, sometimes a harp, sometimes the royal arms, sometimes an inscription, etc. These devices are all included in the word tail, meaning opposite to the head. The ancient Romans used to play this game, but said, "Heads or ships." "Cum puerl denarios in sublime jactantes, `capita aut navia,' lusu teste vetustatis exclamant." - Macrobius Saturnalia, i. 7. Neither head nor tail. Nothing consistent. "I can make neither head nor tail of what you say," i.e. I cannot bolt the matter to the bran. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Heads or Tails

Heads or Tails is a coin-tossing game.

Most coins have a side where the imprint of a person, such as a monarch is impressed - this side is called the "Head" side (since the embossing is of the head of a person). The other side may have any imprint, or none, and is called the "Tail" side.

Generally, one person throws the coin up in the air, and the second person must predict which side of the coin will lay face up after it rests back on the ground. A correct prediction results in a win.

Another variation has the person catch the coin in one hand and slap it on the back of their other hand. Traditionally, the second person calls out "heads" or "tails" while the coin is in the air.

The Australian game of Two-up is closely related, and involves traditionally two half-pennies.

"Cross and Pile" was played in England for many centuries. The cross being the major design element on one side of many coins, and the Pile being the bottom part of the die that was typically hammered into a log and used in the minting process that was accomplished with a small sledge hammer and a die held in the other hand. See also hammered coinage.

A related game, "Cross and Pile" is derived from the Greek pastime called Ostra Kinda, played by the boys of ancient Greece. Having procured a shell, they smeared it over with pitch on one side and left the other side white. A boy tossed up this shell, and his antagonist called white or black (In the Greek, nux kai hmera, that is, 'night and day') as he thought proper, and his success was determined by the white or black part of the shell being uppermost.

See also: gambling

Synonyms within Context: HEADS OR TAILS

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Chance 2	Noun: chance, indetermination, accident, fortune, hazard, hap, haphazard, chance medley, random, luck, raccroc, casualty, contingence, adventure, hit; fate; (necessity); equal chance; lottery; tombola; toss up; turn of the table, turn of the cards; hazard of the die, chapter of accidents, fickle finger of fate; cast of the dice, throw of the dice; heads or tails, flip of a coin, wheel of Fortune; sortes, sortes Virgilianae.
Intention	Drawing lots; sortilegy, sortition; sortes, sortes Virgilianae; rouge et noir, hazard, ante, chuck-a-luck, crack-loo, craps, faro, roulette, pitch and toss, chuck, farthing, cup tossing, heads or tails cross and pile, poker-dice; wager; bet, betting; gambling; the turf.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Modern Usage: HEADS OR TAILS

Expression: HEADS OR TAILS

Modern Translation: HEADS OR TAILS

Language		Translations for "HEADS OR TAILS"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Arabic		‏كتابة أم صورة للقرعة, ‏طرة أو نقش. (various references)

Bulgarian		ези-тура. (various references)

Czech		hlava nebo orel. (various references)

Finnish		kruunu vai klaava. (various references)

French		jouer � pile ou face (toss heads or tails). (various references)

German		Kopf oder Zahl (pitch-and-toss). (various references)

Hungarian		fej vagy írás (pitch-and-toss, toss, toss up, toss-up). (various references)

Pig Latin		eadshay oray ailstay

Russian		орел или решка. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		pismo-glava. (various references)

Spanish		cara o cruz (toss-up). (various references)

Swedish		krona eller klave. (various references)

Turkish		yazı-tura. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Anagrams: HEADS OR TAILS

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-d-e-h-i-l-o-r-s-s-t"
	-2 letters: asteroidal, estradiols, horsetails, trailheads.
	-3 letters: aeroliths, asteroids, diastoles, estradiol, halitoses, headsails, horsetail, idolaters, loadstars, lodestars, railheads, shoaliest, sodalites, solarised, steroidal, trailhead.
	-4 letters: aerolith, aerosats, airdates, airheads, airholes, airsheds, alastors, ashlared, assailed, assailer, assoiled, assorted, asterias, asteroid, atresias, darioles, dashiest, dataries, delators, diastase, diasters, diastole, diastral, dilaters, dilators, disaster, disrates, earshots, estriols, hairless, harassed.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Domain	Usage
Movie/TV Titles	Heads or Tails (1973)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

HEADS OR TAILS

Specialty Definition: HEADS OR TAILS

Literature

Specialty Definition: Heads or Tails

Synonyms within Context: HEADS OR TAILS

Chance 2

Intention

Crosswords: HEADS OR TAILS

Modern Usage: HEADS OR TAILS

Movie/TV Titles

Expression: HEADS OR TAILS

Modern Translation: HEADS OR TAILS

Arabic

Bulgarian

Czech

Finnish

French

German

Hungarian

Pig Latin

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Anagrams: HEADS OR TAILS

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

INDEX

Expression using "HEADS OR TAILS": toss heads or tails. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.