Come to a head

    到了紧要关头

    Come to是“到了”，head是“头”。Come to a head 是什么意思？请看对话：

    A: Things hadn't been good between them for a while but it all came to a head last week.

    B: What happened?

    A: Phil failed to come home one night, and Mary found herself a divorce lawyer the next morning.

    Note: The "head" in this idiom refers to the tip of a pimple, the tiny swollen affection under the skin. When pimples first come into being, the skin still looks smooth but if you touch the red spots, you'll be able to feel the tiny swellings underneath, and they can be painful to touch. It takes time for the pimples to ripen or mature, when they form into "heads." This is the time to do something about them effectively, such as popping them open. Therefore, this is a figurative expression meaning to "reach a critical or crucial stage." If a problem or a disagreement comes to a head, it becomes so bad that you have to start dealing with it.