wrap one's head around

English

Alternative forms

• wrap one's mind around

Verb

wrap one's head around (third-person singular simple present wraps one's head around, present participle wrapping one's head around, simple past and past participle wrapped one's head around)

1. (informal, figuratively) To come to a good understanding of.
   • 1978, Science Policy Foundation, Science & Public Policy, volume 5, page 456:

     It is sometimes mind-boggling to try and wrap one's head around all the possible information sets which one should try to address.

   • 2020 November 1, “Election at Hand, Biden Leads Trump in Four Key States, Poll Shows”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     “I know how important it is to vote, but I couldn’t wrap my head around the options at that point,” Ms. Dibble said of the 2016 election.

2. (informal, more literally, uncommon) To crash into (something, especially a pole) messily and fatally while travelling in a motor vehicle.
   • 2011, David Adams Richards, The Coming of Winter, page 14:

     “Some crazy young bastard wrapped his head around a pole.”

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see wrap,‎ head,‎ around.
   • 2005, Charles R. Saint, The A.A.H.:

     The words barely left the lips when there came a loud cry and a trample of hoof beats. It was Kelly, radiant and shining, her mane was whipping with her speed. I cried out to her and the mare came to a stop and wrapped her head around mine.

Translations

to come to a good understanding of

• Hungarian: megpróbál megérteni, (in the negative) (nem) fér a fejébe, fel (nem) foghat
• Polish: ogarniać (pl) impf, ogarnąć (pl) pf, mieścić się w głowie impf (impersonally, chiefly negated)
• Turkish: basmak (tr)