"heads or harps" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Copper coins minted in Georgian Ireland had the head of the British monarch on the obverse and the Irish harp on the reverse. The phrase \"heads or harps\" remained common even after 1823, when Irish minting ceased and only British coinage circulated; it was still current when the Irish Free State restored the harp on its newly introduced coins in 1927.",
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      "expansion": "heads or harps (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w"
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Irish English",
          "parents": [],
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1802, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Maria Edgeworth, “The Dublin Shoeblack”, in Essay on Irish Bulls, London: J. Johnson, page 128:",
          "text": "A quarrel happened between two shoeblacks, who were playing at what in England is called pitch farthing, or heads and tails, and in Ireland, head or harp.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1848, Anthony Trollope, “XVI Brien Boru”, in The Kellys and the O'Kellys, volume II, London: Henry Colburne, page 55:",
          "text": "...he took out his purse, and, extracting half-a-crown, threw it up to the ceiling, saying,\n“Well, Dot—head or harp? If you’re right, you have them.”\n“Harp,” cried Dot.\nThey both examined the coin. “They’re yours,” said Frank, with much solemnity...",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "John P. Frayne, editor (1970), Uncollected prose by W. B. Yeats, volume 1, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 28",
          "text": "There was a family of peasants who never could make up their minds; they decided everything by a toss-up. The head of the family had settled the amount of dowry he got with his wife by ‘heads or harps,’ and when he died he left his land to be tossed for by his two sons.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1905 August 17, “The News-Vendor”, in The Weekly Irish Times, Dublin, page 6:",
          "text": "He dearly loves to smoke cigarettes and many of them, and he has an insurmountable weakness for the recondite mysteries of \"Pitch and Toss,\" and when he has mastered the intricacies of the game, can foretell by repeatedly turning a copper in his hand while the stakes are revolving in the air whether they will settle on the ground heads or harps up.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1972, Brian Cleeve, Cry of morning, London: Corgi, →ISBN, page 210:",
          "text": "He looked up as they came nearer. ‘Hey, lads. Lookin’ for a game?’\n‘A game?’ Victor said.\n‘Pitch an’ toss.’ He spun the ha’penny, watched it fall between two broken pieces of brick and cocked his foxy head at the two boys. ‘Heads or harps?’\n‘Harps,’ Victor said.\n‘You win,’ Denis Doyle said.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Billy Roche, “A Handful of Stars; Act 1; Scene 1”, in The Wexford Trilogy, →ISBN:",
          "text": "JIMMY. Heads or harps?\nTONY. Heads.\nJIMMY. (Tosses the coin onto the back of his hand.) Hard luck. Ha ha ha.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019 September 16, Tom Swift, “Winging It”, in RTÉ Culture, RTÉ:",
          "text": "Christina twirls on straps like a spinning coin that hasn’t decided if it will land on heads or harps.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 November 11, Dermot Crean, “Toss Of A Coin To Decide Venue For Kerins O’Rahillys V Dr Crokes”, in Tralee Today:",
          "text": "“HEADS or harps?”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "heads or tails"
      ],
      "id": "en-heads_or_harps-en-noun-OVmqyLcZ",
      "links": [
        [
          "heads or tails",
          "heads or tails"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Ireland) heads or tails"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "obsolete"
          ],
          "word": "head or harp"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Ireland",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "heads or harps"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Copper coins minted in Georgian Ireland had the head of the British monarch on the obverse and the Irish harp on the reverse. The phrase \"heads or harps\" remained common even after 1823, when Irish minting ceased and only British coinage circulated; it was still current when the Irish Free State restored the harp on its newly introduced coins in 1927.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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      },
      "expansion": "heads or harps (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Irish English",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1802, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Maria Edgeworth, “The Dublin Shoeblack”, in Essay on Irish Bulls, London: J. Johnson, page 128:",
          "text": "A quarrel happened between two shoeblacks, who were playing at what in England is called pitch farthing, or heads and tails, and in Ireland, head or harp.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1848, Anthony Trollope, “XVI Brien Boru”, in The Kellys and the O'Kellys, volume II, London: Henry Colburne, page 55:",
          "text": "...he took out his purse, and, extracting half-a-crown, threw it up to the ceiling, saying,\n“Well, Dot—head or harp? If you’re right, you have them.”\n“Harp,” cried Dot.\nThey both examined the coin. “They’re yours,” said Frank, with much solemnity...",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "John P. Frayne, editor (1970), Uncollected prose by W. B. Yeats, volume 1, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 28",
          "text": "There was a family of peasants who never could make up their minds; they decided everything by a toss-up. The head of the family had settled the amount of dowry he got with his wife by ‘heads or harps,’ and when he died he left his land to be tossed for by his two sons.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1905 August 17, “The News-Vendor”, in The Weekly Irish Times, Dublin, page 6:",
          "text": "He dearly loves to smoke cigarettes and many of them, and he has an insurmountable weakness for the recondite mysteries of \"Pitch and Toss,\" and when he has mastered the intricacies of the game, can foretell by repeatedly turning a copper in his hand while the stakes are revolving in the air whether they will settle on the ground heads or harps up.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1972, Brian Cleeve, Cry of morning, London: Corgi, →ISBN, page 210:",
          "text": "He looked up as they came nearer. ‘Hey, lads. Lookin’ for a game?’\n‘A game?’ Victor said.\n‘Pitch an’ toss.’ He spun the ha’penny, watched it fall between two broken pieces of brick and cocked his foxy head at the two boys. ‘Heads or harps?’\n‘Harps,’ Victor said.\n‘You win,’ Denis Doyle said.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Billy Roche, “A Handful of Stars; Act 1; Scene 1”, in The Wexford Trilogy, →ISBN:",
          "text": "JIMMY. Heads or harps?\nTONY. Heads.\nJIMMY. (Tosses the coin onto the back of his hand.) Hard luck. Ha ha ha.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019 September 16, Tom Swift, “Winging It”, in RTÉ Culture, RTÉ:",
          "text": "Christina twirls on straps like a spinning coin that hasn’t decided if it will land on heads or harps.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 November 11, Dermot Crean, “Toss Of A Coin To Decide Venue For Kerins O’Rahillys V Dr Crokes”, in Tralee Today:",
          "text": "“HEADS or harps?”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "heads or tails"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "heads or tails",
          "heads or tails"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Ireland) heads or tails"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Ireland",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "word": "head or harp"
    }
  ],
  "word": "heads or harps"
}

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