Etymology
Old English her, heer, hær, Anglo Saxon hǣr; akin to Old Frisian, hēr, Dutch and German haar, Old High German and Icelandic hār, Danish haar, Swedish hår; compare Lithuanian kasa
Noun
- The collection or mass of filaments growing from the skin of an animal, and forming a covering for a part of the head or for any part or the whole of the body.
- A pigmented keratinaceous growth that forms thin spires and grows out from a follicle.
- One the above-mentioned filaments, consisting, in invertebrate animals, of a long, tubular part which is free and flexible, and a bulbous root imbedded in the skin.
- Quotations
- Then read he me how Sampson lost his hairs. - Chaucer
- And draweth new delights with hoary hairs. - Spenser
- Hair (human or animal) used for various purposes; as, hair for stuffing cushions.
- (Zoölogy): A slender outgrowth from the chitinous cuticle of insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Such hairs are totally unlike those of vertebrates in structure, composition, and mode of growth.
- (Botany): An outgrowth of the epidermis, consisting of one or of several cells, whether pointed, hooked, knobbed, or stellated. Internal hairs occur in the flower stalk of the yellow frog lily (Nuphar).
- A spring device used in a hair-trigger firearm.
- (Obsolete): A haircloth. - Chaucer
- Any very small distance, or degree; a hairbreadth.
Translations
- Breton: blev collective noun
- catalan: pèl m, cabell m (of head)
- Danish: hår
- Dutch: haar n
- Finnish: turkki (1); hius (sg.), hiukset (pl.) (2); karva (3)
- French: cheveu m, chevelure f (head), poil m (body or animals)
- Frisian: hier
- German: Haar n
- Guarani: tague
- Indonesian: rambut, bulu
- Interlingua: pilo, capillo (of head)
- Italian: pelo m, capello m (of head)
- Japanese: 毛 (け, ke), 髪の毛 (かみのけ, kaminoke) (of head)
- Korean: 머리카락 (meorikarak), 머리칼 (meorikal)
- Portuguese: pelo m, cabelo m (of head)
- Romanian: păr m
- Russian: волос m, волосы (of head) pl
- Spanish: pelo m, cabello m (of head)
- Tupinambá: 'aba
Derived expressions
Hair is often used adjectively or in combination; as, hairbrush or hair brush, hair dye, hair oil, hairpin, hair powder, a brush, a dye, etc., for the hair
- Against the hair, (Obsolete): in a rough and disagreeable manner; against the grain
- Quotations
- You go against the hair of your professions. - Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, II-iii
Hair bracket, (Ship Carpentry): a molding which comes in at the back of, or runs aft from, the figurehead
Hair cells, (Anatomy): cells with hairlike processes in the sensory epithelium of certain parts of the internal ear
Hair compass, Hair divider, a compass or divider capable of delicate adjustment by means of a screw
Hair glove, a glove of horsehair for rubbing the skin
Hair lace, a netted fillet for tying up the hair of the head. - Swift
Hair line, a line made of hair; a very slender line
Hair moth, (Zoölogy): any moth which destroys goods made of hair, especially Tinea biselliella
Hair pencil, a brush or fine hair, for painting; -- generally called by the name of the hair used; as, a camel's hair pencil, a sable's hair pencil, etc.
Hair plate, an iron plate forming the back of the hearth of a bloomery fire
Hair powder, a white perfumed powder, as of flour or starch, formerly much used for sprinkling on the hair of the head, or on wigs
Hair seal, (Zoölogy): any one of several species of eared seals which do not produce fur; a sea lion
Hair seating, haircloth for seats of chairs, etc.
Hair shirt, a shirt, or a band for the loins, made of horsehair, and worn as a penance.
Hair sieve, a strainer with a haircloth bottom
Hair snake. See Gordius
Hair space, (Printing): the thinnest metal space used in lines of type
Hair stroke, a delicate stroke in writing
Hair trigger, a trigger so constructed as to discharge a firearm by a very slight pressure, as by the touch of a hair. - Farrow
Not worth a hair, of no value
To a hair, with the nicest distinction
To split hairs, to make distinctions of useless nicety.
Related words
