hair

Use hair in a sentence

A woman having her hair styled.

hair

noun

The definition of a hair is a fine, thread-like strand that grows on people and animals.

An example of hair is the stuff you have growing from the top of your head and that you lose if you go bald.
An example of hair is the stuff your dog sheds.

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hair. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Hair

hair

any of the fine, threadlike outgrowths from the skin of an animal or human being
a growth of these; esp.,
1. the growth covering the human head
2. the growth covering all or part of the skin of most mammals
material woven from hair
an extremely small space, margin, degree, etc.: to miss by a hair
Bot. a threadlike growth on a plant; trichome

Origin of hair

Middle English here from Old English hær (akin to German haar, Frankish an unverified form harja) and from uncertain or unknown; perhaps Old French haire, hair shirt from Frankish an unverified form harja from Indo-European base an unverified form ?er(s)-, to bristle

made of or with hair
for the care of the hair: hair tonic

hair Idioms

get in someone's hair

Slang to annoy someone

hair of the dog (that bit one)

Informal a drink of alcoholic liquor taken as a supposed remedy for a hangover

have (or get) by the short hairs

Slang to have (or get) completely at one's mercy: mildly vulgar

Origin of hair

< short hairs, pubic hair

let one's hair down

Slang to be very informal, relaxed, and free in behavior

make someone's hair stand on end

to terrify or horrify someone

Origin of hair

in ref. to horripilation

not turn a hair

to show no fear, surprise, embarrassment, etc.; stay calm and unruffled

split hairs

to make petty distinctions; quibble

to a hair

exactly; right in every detail

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hair. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Hair

hair

noun

a. Any of the cylindrical, keratinized, often pigmented filaments characteristically growing from the epidermis of a mammal.
b. A growth of such filaments, as that forming the coat of an animal or covering the scalp of a human.
A filamentous projection or bristle similar to a hair, such as a seta of an arthropod or an epidermal process of a plant.
Fabric made from the hair of certain animals: a coat of alpaca hair.
a. A minute distance or narrow margin: won by a hair.
b. A precise or exact degree: calibrated to a hair.

Origin of hair

Middle English her from Old English hǣr

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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One of the fine strands that grow from the skin of mammals, usually providing insulation against the cold. Modified hairs sometimes serve as protective defenses, as in the quills of a porcupine or hedgehog, or as tactile organs, as in the whiskers (called vibrissae) of many nocturnal mammals. Hair filaments are a modification of the epidermis of the skin and are composed primarily of keratin. Hair also contains melanin, which determines hair color.
A slender growth resembling a mammalian hair, found on insects and other animals.
A fine, threadlike growth from the epidermis of plants.
See more at trichome

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hair

See also baldness; beards

alopecia 1. a loss of hair, feathers, or wool. 2. baldness. —alopecic, adj. chaetophobia an abnormal fear of hair. crinosity the state of being hairy. —crinous, adj. electrology the use of electrolysis for removing moles, warts, or excess hair. —electrologist, n. hirsutism 1. a condition of shaggy hairiness. 2. Biology. the state of being covered “with long, stiff hairs. —hirsute, adj. hispidity the state or quality of being covered with small spines or bristles. —hispid, adj. hypertrichosis a condition of excessive hairiness either all over the body or covering a particular part. Leiotrichi people with smooth hair; a division of mankind characterized by people with such hair. Cf. Ulotrichi. —Leiotrichan, adj. madarosis the loss of hair, especially of the eyelashes, as a result of disease. madisterium a surgical instrument for pulling out hairs. melanosity darkness or blackness of eyes, hair, or complexion. pilosity an excessive hairiness; furriness. —pilose, adj. psilosis falling out of the hair. schizotrichia a condition of splitting of the hair. tonsure 1. the act or process of cutting the hair, especially as a religious rite or custom. 2. the shaved part of the head, usually the crown, of a member of a religious order. —tonsorial, adj. trichiasis a condition in which the hair grows inward, especially the eyelashes. trichoanesthesia Medicine. a loss of hair sensibility. trichobezoar a hairball. trichoclasia a condition of extreme brittleness of the hair, often following an illness. trichology Medicine. the scientific study of hair and its diseases. —trichologist, n. trichoma a condition of the hair in which it is matted or crusted. trichomania an obsession with hair. trichomycosis any disease of the hair caused by a fungus. trichopathy Medicine. any disease of the hair. —trichopathic, adj. trichophagy the practice of eating hair. trichorrhexomania a mania for pinching off one’s hair. trichosis 1. Medicine. any disease or abnormal growth of the hair. 2. a heavy growth of hair. trichotillomania Medicine. an abnormal desire to pull out one’s own hair, especially by delirious patients. Also called trichologia. Ulotrichi people with woolly, tightly curled, or crisp hair; a division of mankind characterized by people with such hair. Cf. Leiotrichi. —ulotrichous, adj. villosity the condition or quality of being covered with long, soft hairs, as certain plants, or hairlike appendages, as certain of the membranes of the body. —villous, adj. xanthochroid a person with light-colored hair and fair complexion. —xanthochroid, xanthochroous, adj.

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Noun

(countable and uncountable, plural hairs) (but usually in singular)

(countable) A pigmented filament of keratin which grows from a follicle on the skin of humans and other mammals.
I only have hair around my genitals and on my head.
(uncountable) The collection or mass of such growths growing from the skin of humans and animals, and forming a covering for a part of the head or for any part or the whole body.
In the western world, women usually have long hair while men usually have short hair.
(zoology, countable) 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, countable) A cellular 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).
1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XV:
I requyre you take thys hayre that was thys holy mannes and put hit nexte thy skynne, and hit shall prevayle the gretly.
(countable) Any very small distance, or degree; a hairbreadth.
Just a little louder please - turn that knob a hair to the right.

Usage notes

The word hair is usually used without article in singular number when it refers to all the hairs on one's head in general. But if it refers to more than one hair, a few hairs, then it takes the plural form without an article, and needs a plural verb.

George has (-) brown hair, but I found a hair on the sofa and suspect he's getting some gray hairs.

George's hair is brown, but one hair I found was grey, so I think there are probably more grey hairs on his head as well.

Adjectives often applied to "hair": long, short, curly, straight, dark, blonde, black, brown, red, blue, green, purple, coarse, fine, healthy, damaged, beautiful, perfect, natural, dyed.

Anagrams

Origin

From Middle English hēr, heer, hær, from Old English her, hǣr , from Proto-Germanic *hērą. Compare West Frisian hier, Dutch haar, German Haar, Swedish hår, from Proto-Indo-European *keres- (“rough hair, bristle”). Compare Middle Irish carrach (“scurfy, mangy”), Albanian qere (“hair disease, ringworm, baldness”), Lithuanian šerys (“bristle, animal hair”), Russian шерсть (šerst’, “wool”), Sanskrit कपुच्छल (kapucchala, “napehair, shorthairs”).

See also: haïr

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

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hair - Medical Definition

1. Any of the cylindrical, keratinized, often pigmented filaments characteristically growing from the epidermis of a mammal.
2. A growth of such filaments, as that forming the coat of an animal or covering the scalp of a human.
A filamentous projection or bristle similar to a hair, such as a seta of an arthropod or an epidermal process of a plant.

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"hair." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 16 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Hair>.

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hair. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Hair

hair

hair

hair

hair

hair - Medical Definition

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