on one's head

English

Prepositional phrase

on one's head

1. Assumed or borne, as a responsibility or something blameworthy.
   • 1898, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Cæsar and Cleopatra”, in Three Plays for Puritans: The Devil’s Disciple, Cæsar and Cleopatra, & Captain Brassbound’s Conversion, London: Grant Richards, […], published 1901, →OCLC, Act V, page 198:

     cleopatra [vehemently] He has shed the blood of my servant Ftatateeta. On your head be it as upon his, Cæsar, if you hold him free of it.

2. Assigned by government authorities as a bounty or penalty.
   • 1810, Walter Scott, “Canto IV. The Prophecy.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza XVII, page 168:

     [M]y father is a man / Outlawed and exiled, under ban; / The price of blood is on his head, […]

   • 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter IX, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC, page 78:

     [T]here wasn't a man around there but had a price on his head and didn't dare show himself in the settlements, […]

   • 1989 December 25, Larry Rohter, “Fighting in Panama; Noriega Seeks Asylum at Vatican Embassy”, in New York Times:

     The Bush Administration had made the capture of General Noriega a principal objective, putting a $1 million bounty on his head.

   • 2007 December 13, “Demon dacoit resurrected, sent back to underworld”, in Daily Times, Pakistan:

     There was a Rs 2.5 million reward on his head.

Related terms

• price on someone's head

Translations

assumed or borne, as a responsibility or something blameworthy

• Hungarian: lelke rajta

See also

• it's someone's funeral
• (to be) to blame