TO LOOK FOR A PIN’S-HEAD IN A CARTLOAD OF HAY, verb. phr. (old).—To attempt the impossible. Whence TO FIND A PIN’S-HEAD, &c. = to achieve wonders. See BOTTLE.
1565. J. CALFHILL, An Answer to John Martiall’s Treatise of the Cross [Parker Society], 173. As the words were brought unto them, it was as hard to pick out construction, as TO FIND A PIN’S-HEAD IN A CART-LOAD OF HAY.
