turn someone's head

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turn someone's head (third-person singular simple present turns someone's head, present participle turning someone's head, simple past and past participle turned someone's head)

1. (idiomatic) To influence someone in a manner that significantly changes his or her behavior.
   • 1901, Jack London, A Hyperborean Brew:

     [I]t was plain that power had turned his head, and he would not be satisfied till all the power and all the wealth rested in his own hands. So he became swollen with pride, forgot it was I that had placed him there, and made preparations to destroy me.

   • 1906, Mark Twain, chapter 1, in Chapters from My Autobiography:

     I should not want him to make a fortune—let that come later. It could turn his head, at his time of life, and in many ways be a damage to him.

   • 2025 December 11, Charlie Campbell, Andrew R. Chow and Billy Perrigo, “The Architects of AI Are TIME’s 2025 Person of the Year”, in Time‎^[1]:

     Trump was eager to join forces with a cohort of tech elites who once donated to his opponents. What turns his head, beyond displays of public devotion, are massive investments in capital infrastructure, energy, and manufacturing—a new load-bearing pillar holding up the U.S. economy and stock markets.

2. (idiomatic) To attract someone's romantic interest.
   • 1900, Irving Bacheller, chapter 20, in Eben Holden: A Tale of the North Country:

     Young men at Hillsborough—many of whom, I felt sure, had a smarter look than I—had bid stubbornly for her favour. I wondered, often, it did not turn her head—this tribute of rustic admiration.

   • 1904, Harold MacGrath, chapter 2, in The Man On The Box:

     I often marvel that the women did not turn his head.

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “I can believe I was in love with you,” replied Dad. “But you were different then, Rita. Before Mr Big came along and turned your head with his riches.”

• (influence someone in a manner that significantly changes his or her behavior): go to someone's head
• (attract someone's romantic interest): light someone's fire

• turn heads