no dejar títere con cabeza

Literally, “to not leave a puppet with a head”. The term alludes to a scene in Don Quixote (Volume 2 Chapter 26) in which in one of Don Quixote's daydreams he mistakes dolls for a maiden's real captors and thus cuts off all their heads.

• IPA^(key): /ˌno deˌxaɾ ˌtiteɾe kon kaˈbeθa/ [ˌno ð̞eˌxaɾ ˌt̪i.t̪e.ɾe kõŋ kaˈβ̞e.θa] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /ˌno deˌxaɾ ˌtiteɾe kon kaˈbesa/ [ˌno ð̞eˌxaɾ ˌt̪i.t̪e.ɾe kõŋ kaˈβ̞e.sa] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: no de‧jar tí‧te‧re con ca‧be‧za

no dejar títere con cabeza (first-person singular present no dejo títere con cabeza, first-person singular preterite no dejé títere con cabeza, past participle no dejado títere con cabeza)

1. (idiomatic) to smash up everything in sight
2. (idiomatic) to do away with everything

• “no dejar títere con cabeza, o con cara”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024