Dictionary

at sixes and sevens en · ADP

Pronunciation

• /æt ˌsɪksɪz n̩ ˈsɛvn̩z/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (General-American) audio
• /æt ˌsɪksɪz n̩ ˈsɛvənz/ (General-American)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From earlier set all (and other forms) on six and seven, from Middle English setten al at (or setten the world on) sixe and sevene (“to risk everything, take a chance”), probably a variant—either an exaggeration or mishearing—of setten on cynk (“number or throw of five on a die”) and sys (“number or throw of six on a die”), referring to the two highest throws and thus the riskiest bets on the dice in dice games. Folk etymology often links the phrase to the order of precedence of the livery companies in the City of London Corporation, in which the Worshipful Company of Skinners and the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors trade sixth and seventh place each year, but the phrase was already in use for a century before this practice began in 1484.

Meanings

1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic) In a state of confusion.
   • Yet if his majesty our sovereign lord / Should of his own accord / Friendly himself invite, / And say "I'll be your guest to morrow night." / How should we stir ourselves, call and command / All hands to work! Let no man idle stand. / […] / For 'tis a duteous thing / To show all honour to an earthly king, / And after all our travail and our cost, / So he be pleas'd, to think no labour lost. / But at the coming of the King of Heaven / All's set at six and seven: / We wallow in our sin, / Christ cannot find a chamber in the inn. / We entertain him always like a stranger, / And as at first still lodge him in the manger. [1624, Francis Pilkington, “From Christ Church MS. K. 3. 43–5. (Music by Thomas Ford.)”, in A[rthur] H[enry] Bullen, editor, More Lyrics from the Song-books of the Elizabethan Age, London: John C. Nimmo, […], published 1888, →OCLC, pages 145–146:
   • We sailed for Kingston in the Townshend packet, / The day suspicious was, and calm the heavens, / Not so the scene on board—oh, what a racket! / And everything on deck apparently at sixes and sevens. 1907, A[rthur] T[homas] Quiller-Couch, “How We Sailed to the Island”, in Poison Island, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 221:
   • [H]e turn'd her out of Doors to his great Sorrovv, as he found aftervvards, for his Affairs vvent all at ſixes and ſevens. 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “The Character of John Bull’s Mother”, in John Bull Still in His Senses: Being the Third Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 83:
   • A few days after the battle started, we abandoned Pa-chung County. The enemy troops were elated and boasted of their victory. In fact, the loss of Pa-chung County was a great setback for us. The local people, seeing our departure, could not help wavering. Even those engaged in the work of the Soviet government were not altogether clear about the strategy of our army. They were at sixes and sevens, and some went to such lengths as to make preparations for the eventuality that the Red Army might back out of northern Szechwan. 1972, Chang Kuo-t’ao, “The Soviet Region in Northern Szechwan”, in The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party 1928–1938, volume 2, Lawrence; Manhattan, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, →ISBN, page 342:
   • [T]he poore, although they ſee that one hath great aboundance of corne, that an other hath great plentie of vvine: yet ought they not vvithſtanding to bear their penurie patiently, and not to runne and ſcratch for other mens goods, as if they vvere left at ſixe and ſeuen. [1583, Iohn Caluin [i.e., John Calvin], “On Thursday the XXX. of Ianuarie, 1556. The CXXXVJ. Sermon which is the Seuenth vpon the Three and Twentieth Chapter, and the First vpon the XXIIII.”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The Sermons of M. Iohn Caluin vpon the Fifth Booke of Moses Called Deuteronomie: […], London: […] Henry Middleton for Thomas Woodcocke, →OCLC, page 833, column 1:
   • Anyhow, we was all at sixes and sevens for a day or two, and then her ladyship shut herself up in her room and won't let me go near the wardrobe. 1926, Dorothy L[eigh] Sayers, “Clouds of Witness. Chapter III. Mudstains and Bloodstains.”, in Clouds of Witness: And The Documents in the Case, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, published [1938], →OCLC, page 72:
   • The Goddeſs vvou'd no longer vvait; / But riſing from her Chair of State, / Left all belovv at ſix and ſeven, / Harneſs'd her Doves, and flevv to Heav'n. [1726, [Jonathan Swift], Cadenus and Vanessa. A Poem, London: […] J. Roberts […], →OCLC, page 37:
   • On a railway, I suspect, what little we do see of the country is seen quite amiss, because it was never intended to be looked at from any point of view in that straight line; […] the line of a railway is perfectly artificial, and puts all precedent things at sixes-and-sevens. 1863, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Pilgrimage to Old Boston”, in Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, pages 164–165:
   • I e'en unpacked my books and did a great deal to put them in order, but I was sick of the labour by two o'clock and left several of my books and all of my papers at sixes and sevens. 1829 July 12 (date written), Walter Scott, “[Entry dated 12 July 1829]”, in David Douglas, editor, The Journal of Sir Walter Scott […], volume II, Edinburgh: David Douglas, published 1890, →OCLC, page 317:
2. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic) Of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute.
   • You won't believe me, all you will see is a girl you once knew / Although she's dressed up to the nines / At sixes and sevens with you. 1976 April–September (date recorded), “Don't Cry For Me Argentina”, in Tim Rice (lyrics), Andrew Lloyd Webber (music), Don’t Cry for Me Argentina c/w Rainbow High from the Opera Evita, performed by Julie Covington, Universal City, Calif.: MCA Records, published 12 November 1976:
   • All the people who were interested in these league of nations were at sixes and sevens among themselves because they had the most vague, heterogeneous and untidy assumptions about what the world of men was, what it had been, and therefore of what it could be. [1939?], H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Story and Aim of the Outline of History”, in The New and Revised Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind […], new edition, Garden City, N.Y.: Garden City Publishing Company, →OCLC, § 1, page 3:
   • [H]er outlook on life was so different from what he conceived a woman's outlook should be, that he was more often than not at sixes and sevens with her. 1911 March, Jack London, “Tempest”, in Adventure, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 77:

Forms

Synonyms

all sixes and nines · at loggerheads · all sixes and sevens

Translations (27)

it in disordine (in a state of confusion) · cmn 橫七豎八 /横七竖八 (in a state of confusion) · fi sekaisin (in a state of confusion) · fi sikin sokin (in a state of confusion) · es hecho un lío (in a state of confusion) · ru вверх дном (in a state of confusion) · pl skonfundowany (in a state of confusion) · de über Kreuz sein (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · it in disaccordo (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · cmn 吵架 (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · cmn 亂七八糟 /乱七八糟 (in a state of confusion) · nb som hund og katt (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · is elda grátt silfur (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · da i vildrede (in a state of confusion) · fi riidoissa (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · nb ikke være på samme bølgelengde (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · de völlig durcheinander sein (in a state of confusion) · ru в беспоря́дке (in a state of confusion) · de völlig uneins sein (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · cmn 混亂 /混乱 (in a state of confusion) · fi napit vastakkain (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · cmn 針鋒相對 /针锋相对 (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · fr ne pas être sur la même longueur d'onde (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · fr largué (in a state of confusion) · cmn 不和 (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · de sich in den Haaren liegen (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute) · pl w niezgodzie (of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute)

wikipedia: City of London Corporation · wikipedia: Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors · wikipedia: Worshipful Company of Skinners