turn heads
turn heads (metaphor)
/tɜːrn hɛdz/
Synopsis:
“Turn heads” means to attract noticeable attention, usually through striking appearance or style, and it developed in Britain from an older figurative idea that success could “turn someone’s head.” By the nineteenth century it had shifted to its modern sense of causing people to look, becoming a concise metaphor for anything visually impressive.
Variants
- make heads turn
- turn someone’s head
- turn heads wherever (someone) goes
Meanings
- Attract strong attention because of appearance, style, or impressive behavior.
- Make people physically look around or look directly at someone or something.
- (Older sense) Make someone proud or vain because of sudden praise, success, or attention.
Synonyms: attract attention; catch the eye; draw attention; cause a stir; stop traffic; impress; stand out.
Example Sentences
- The new electric sports car was sleek enough to turn heads the moment it pulled into the parking lot.
- The parade’s giant balloons made everyone on the street turn heads to see what was coming.
- The award was so unexpected that it began to turn his head, and he acted more important than before.
Origin and History
Early Conceptual Roots
The expression draws from two independent but compatible ideas in English: the physical act of turning one’s head to look at something, and the older figurative notion that praise or sudden success can “turn someone’s head,” meaning to make them vain or overconfident. Both ideas were present in English long before the modern idiom formed.
Sixteenth-Century Figurative Evidence
A frequently cited early example appears in a 1571 English translation of a classical work, rendered as “his head was turned by too great success.” This early figurative use shows that English speakers already employed “turned his head” metaphorically to describe the effects of admiration or triumph on a person’s character.
Nineteenth-Century Shift to Modern Meaning
The expression moved toward its contemporary sense during the nineteenth century, when printed descriptions of fashion, public entertainments, and street spectacles routinely described something striking as capable of “turning heads.” This period marks the consolidation of the idiom’s now-familiar meaning: to attract attention because of appearance or impressiveness.
Geographic Point of Origin
All early attestations occur within English literary and print culture, establishing Britain as the idiom’s point of origin. From there it migrated into other English varieties and became a common expression in both formal and informal contexts.
Pathway of Semantic Expansion
The idiom’s evolution followed a clear path: literal observation led to a vivid metaphor, and the metaphor gained new social application as public culture placed greater emphasis on style, display, and visual impact. These expanding contexts encouraged the shorter, punchier form “turn heads,” which eventually supplanted the older moralizing sense in common speech.
Limits of Surviving Evidence
Some early citations survive only through later editorial records rather than publicly available page images, including the 1571 example. Such cases are well established in scholarly literature but cannot always be reproduced from digitized facsimiles. The overall historical pattern, however, is secure and consistent across sources.
Origin Summary
“Turn heads” originates in early English figurative language about vanity and success, later merging with the physical image of people turning to look. The idiom took its modern form in nineteenth-century Britain and now universally denotes attention drawn through appearance, style, or notable presence.
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