between sixes and sevens

== English == === Etymology === Unknown, though it may have originated from the game of hazard and the Old French cinc (“five”) and sis (“six”), the riskiest numbers to shoot for, which were misheard and folk-etymologized into English as "six" and "seven". === Pronunciation === === Prepositional phrase === at sixes and sevens (idiomatic, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) In a state of confusion. Synonym: all sixes and nines 17th century, Thomas Ford, "Yet if His Majesty Our Sovereign Lord" (Christ Church MS. 736–8), first published by A. H. Bullen, Lyrics from the Song Books of the Elizabethan Age (1888): Yet if his majesty our sovereign lordShould of his own accordFriendly himself invite,And say "I'll be your guest to-morrow night."How should we stir ourselves, call and commandAll hands to work! Let no man idle stand. [...]For 'tis a duteous thingTo 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 HeavenAll'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. (idiomatic, of people or groups) In a state of dispute or disagreement. Synonym: at loggerheads ==== Translations ==== === References === “at sixes and sevens”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. Michael Quinion (2004), “At sixes and sevens”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.