beat head against the wall

beat one's head against the wall

and bang one's head against a brick wall

Fig. to waste one's time trying hard to accomplish something that is completely hopeless. You're wasting your time trying to figure this puzzle out. You're just beating your head against the wall. You're banging your head against a brick wall trying to get that dog to behave properly.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Maria	mah-REE-ah (Italian, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch), mə-REE-ə (Catalan, English), MAHR-yah (Polish), MAH-ree-ah (Finnish)	Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Occitan, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Faroese, Dutch, Frisian,
Bagadata	-	Ancient Persian
Astell	['æstl]
Applegath	['æplgæθ]
Annuska	-	Hungarian
Esta	ES-tə	English