hair

hair

W1S1 [heə US her] n

[: Old English; Origin: hAr]

1.) [U]

the mass of things like fine threads that grows on your head

▪ She put on her lipstick and brushed her hair .

▪ I must get my hair cut - it's getting very long.

▪ You've had your hair done differently.

▪ His hair was short and dark.

▪ a young woman with short blonde hair

▪ Her long wavy hair was tied back with a bow.

▪ He's a tall, fair-haired guy.

▪ He had a mop of curly black hair .

▪ Men are always worrying about losing their hair .

▪ She kissed him on the cheek and ruffled his hair .

2.)

one of the long fine things like thread that grows on people's heads and on other parts of their bodies, or similar things that grow on animals

▪ The cat has left white hairs all over the sofa.

▪ I'm starting to get a few grey hairs.

▪ I found a hair in my meal.

long-haired/short-haired

▪ long-haired cats

3.) be tearing/pulling your hair out

to be very worried or angry about something, especially because you do not know what to do

▪ Anyone else would have been tearing their hair out trying to work it out.

4.) let your hair down informal

to enjoy yourself and start to relax, especially after working very hard

▪ The party gave us all a chance to really let our hair down.

5.) bad hair day

a day when your hair does not look tidy or neat even when you try to arrange it carefully - used humorously

▪ I'm having a bit of a bad hair day .

6.) keep your hair on

BrE spoken used to tell someone to keep calm and not get annoyed

▪ All right, all right, keep your hair on! I'm sorry.

7.) get in sb's hair informal

to annoy someone, especially by always being near them

8.) make sb's hair stand on end

to make someone very frightened

9.) make sb's hair curl

if a story, experience etc makes your hair curl, it is very surprising, frightening, or shocking

▪ tales that would make your hair curl

10.) not have a hair out of place

to have a very neat appearance

11.) not turn a hair

to remain completely calm when something bad or surprising suddenly happens

12.) not harm/touch a hair of/on sb's head

to not harm someone in any way

13.) the hair of the dog (that bit you)

alcohol that you drink to cure a headache caused by drinking too much alcohol the night before - used humorously

→have a good/fine/thick etc head of hair at ↑head¹ (14)

→not see hide nor hair of at ↑hide² (5)

→split hairs at ↑split¹ (8)

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COLLOCATES for sense 1

brush/comb your hair

do your hair (=arrange it in a style)

have/get your hair cut/done (=by a hairdresser)

short/long hair

shoulder-length hair

fair/blonde hair (=hair that is yellowish-white in colour)

dark hair

red/auburn hair also ginger hair British English (=hair that is orangey-brown in colour)

straight/curly hair

frizzy hair (=hair that is tightly curled)

wavy hair (=hair with loose curls)

fine/thick hair

lank hair (=hair that is thin, straight, and unattractive)

dark-haired/fair-haired/long-haired etc

strand of hair (=a thin piece of hair)

lock of hair (=a fairly thick piece of hair)

mop of hair (=a large amount of thick untidy hair)

be losing your hair (=be going bald)

run your fingers through your/somebody's hair

ruffle/tousle somebody's hair (=make it untidy by rubbing your hand through it)

HINT sense 1

When you mean 'all the hair on a person's head', hair is an uncountable noun: He has black hair (NOT He has black hairs).

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