bury one's head in the sand

A reference to the imagined habit of the ostrich burying its head when threatened. See also head in the sand.

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

bury one's head in the sand (third-person singular simple present buries one's head in the sand, present participle burying one's head in the sand, simple past and past participle buried one's head in the sand)

1. (idiomatic) To deliberately ignore the reality of a situation; to pretend a problem does not exist.
   • 1950 January, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 13:

     Now this doubtness is an unhappy state of affairs to the lover of the steam locomotive, but we cannot, like the proverbial ostrich, bury our heads in the sand and refuse to face facts.