hailstone 
hailstone (hal'ston), n. [< ME. hailstone, haylr- 
stone, hateelxtan (AS. "hcegelstan, not found) = 
D. hagelsteen = MHG. G. hagelstein = Icel. hagl- 
steinn = Sw. ODan. hagelsten (cf. G. Sw. Dan. 
hagelkorn); < hail*- + stone.} A single pellet 
of hail. See hain. 
When there fell any haile or raine . . . the haile-itones 
wee gathered vp. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. ii. 163. 
I will rain upon him . . . great hailstones, fire, and 
brimstone. Ezek. xxxviii. 22. 
hail-storm (hal'storm), n. A storm of hail, 
haily (ha'li), a. [< hain + -y 1 .] Consisting of 
hail; full of hail. 
But with a thicker night black Auster shrouds 
The heavens, and drives on heaps the rolling clouds, 
From whose dark womb a rattling tempest pours, 
Which the cold North congeals to haily showers. 
Pope, tr. of Statius's Thebaid, i. 
hain (han), . [Also written hane; < ME. 
"haynen, < Icel. hegna, hedge, fence, protect, 
keep, = Sw. hagna = Dan. hegne, fence, in- 
close, < Icel. hagi = Sw. huge = Dan. have = 
AS. haga = E. hate 1 , a place hedged in: see 
haw 1 , hay'*, hedge.} I. trans. If. To hedge or 
fence in; inclose; in particular, of grass, to 
inclose or preserve for mowing or pasture. 
I have four-and-twenty milk-white cows. 
All calved in a day ; 
You'll have them, and as much hained grass 
As they all on can gae. 
Earl Richard (Child's Ballads, HI. 267). 
2. To save; spare; refrain from using or 
spending. [Scotch.] 
Auld Coila, now, may fidge fu' fain, 
She's gotten poets o' her ain, 
Chiels wha their chaunters winna hain. 
Burns, To William Simpson. 
II. intrans. To be thrifty and saving; be 
economical or parsimonious. [Scotch.] 
Poor is that mind, ay discontent, 
Which cannot use what God has lent, . . . 
Which gars him pitifully hane. Ramsay. 
haint (han), n. [< ME. haine, hayne = Sw. 
haign = Dan. hegn, a hedge, inclosure; from 
the verb: see hain, v.} An inclosure; a park. 
Grete hertes in the haynes, 
Falre bares in the playues. 
MS. Lincoln, A. i. 17, f. 130. (Halliwell.) 
hainch, . t. A dialectal variant of haunch. 
hainoust, a. An obsolete spelling of heinous. 
hain't, haint. A contraction of have not or has 
not. See ha'n't. 
hair 1 (har), n. and a. [Early mod. E. also haire, 
hayre, heare, heere, here ; < ME. here, heer, her, < 
AS. hcer = OS. har = OFries. her = D. huar = 
MLG. har = OHG. MHG. har, G. haar = Icel. 
har = Sw. har = Dan. haar, hair ; not in Goth., 
where tagl (= E. tail 1 ) and skuft mean 'hair.' 
Boot unknown ; not connected with L. ctesaries, 
a head of hair. Hair in def s. 5 and 6 was orig. 
a different form, derived from the preceding, 
namely, ME. haire, hayre, heyre, < AS. hcere (= 
OHG. hdra, harra (> F. haire) = Icel. hcera), f., 
haircloth, < hcer, hair.] I. n. 1. One of the nu- 
merous fine filaments which more or less com- 
pletely cover the skin of most mammals, and 
constitute the characteristic coat of this class 
of animals; any capillary outgrowth from the 
skin. Hairs are extravascular, non-nervous, epidermal, 
or exoskeletal structures be- 
longing to the same category 
as nails, scales, feathers, and 
other horny or cuticular 
outgrowths, being chiefly 
distinguished by their sim- 
plicity, and their extreme 
slendcrness in proportion to 
their length, which may 
reach several feet. A hair 
consists of an outer or cuticu- 
lar layer of cells, extremely 
variable in t he details of their 
arrangement, generally im- 
bricated and with their free 
edges presenting away from the skin. These constitute 
the hair-cuticle or cortex, upon the nature of which largely 
depends the capability of being woven or felted of some 
kinds of hair, as wool. Inside the cuticle is a tubular 
shaft of longitudinal fibers, resulting from fibrillation of 
cells, which may contain a core of granular cells, the pith 
or medulla of the hair. Air finds its way into the inter- 
stices of the pith. Many hairs are quit* cylindrical, or 
have but slightly reniform cross-section ; such are apt to 
be long, slender, and straight, and possess the least felt- 
ing properties, especially if their cuticular cells be also 
smooth. Curly, kinky, or woolly hairs, as of the negro's 
head or a man's beard, owe this character chiefly to the 
fact that they are flattened in different planes in succes- 
sive parts of their length. Hairs of extreme length and 
fineness grow upon the head of women ; others are of mi- 
croscopic size, retaining, however, the same structural 
character. Hairs of great comparative thickness and stiff- 
ness are called bristles, as those on the back of swine, the 
whiskers of a cat, etc. When still stouter and sharp- 
pointed, bristles become spines, as of the hedgehog ; one 
Section of Skin, showing the 
roots of two hairs. (Highly mag- 
nified.) 
a, cuticle ; b, deeper parts of 
skin ; c, a hair ; rf, an arrector 
pili muscle ; e, sebaceous glands. 
2682 
extremely short, broad, blunt, flattened spine becomes a 
scale, as on a pangolin ; and a hair which tends to branch 
out in a certain manner becomes a feather. (See fea- 
ther.) An ordinary hair is divided 
into the root, which is inserted 
into the skin ; the stem, or shaft ; 
and the point, which is the part 
into which the pith does not ex- 
tend. The root is planted in a 
little pit or follicle formed by an 
inversion of the skin, the hair-fol- 
licle ; this follicle has a dermic 
and an epidermic layer, and some 
of the latter which adheres when 
a hair is plucked out by the root 
is called the root-sheath. The root 
is commonly enlarged or bulbous, 
constituting the hair-bulb. As* 
soclated with the hair-follicle may 
be one or more sebaceous glands 
whose secretion keeps the hair 
glossy, and tiny muscles (arrectores 
pili) are sometimes attached to the 
sheath of the root, whose action 
may cause the hair to bristle or 
"stand on end." (See horripila- 
tion.) Hair is sometimes colorless, 
but oftenest heavily pfgmented, 
giving animals their natural col- 
ors, in which various shades of 
black, brown, and gray, with flax- 
A Hair in its Hair-sac, en or yellow, are the commonest, 
highly magnified. the purer reds, blues, and greens 
a, shaft of hair above being comparatively rare. In all 
the skin :, cortical sub- mecTes of mammals, including 
the hair attains a definite 
stance of the shaft, the 
medulla not being 
ble ; f, newest portion of length on certain areas of the 
hair, growing on the pa^ body ; If cut ott t it grows again. 
, 
pilla (i ) 
cuticle' of MosYmammals iiave'at least" two 
seta of hairs : one comparatively 
* d y 
root-sheaths) of the hair- long, stout, and straight, Coming 
horny epidermis of ' in^ 
tegument. 
B co 
Hairs of Various Animals, magnified. 
A, Indian bat ; R, mouse ; C. sable ; A 
dennis of hair-sac, con*, still finer coating of hairs may be 
spending to aiat^of the m- found. The aggregate of the hairs 
Is the pelage, corresponding to the 
plumage of a bird; a copious pel 
age of fine hairs is a/ur, as of the 
fur-seal, otter, beaver, etc. ; the fur 
peculiar to animals of the sheep kind is called &fUece. In 
most animals the hairs have a definite period of growth, 
maturity, and decay, which results in the periodical shed- 
ding of the coat. Hair is a specially cntlcular structure, 
and hence mostly 
confined to the ex- 
terior of the body; 
but since epider- 
mis becomes In- 
sensibly modified 
into the epitheli- 
um of mucous 
membrane, so 
hairs may be found 
growing inside any 
of the natural 
openings of the 
body, as the ears, 
nostrils, mouth, 
and various cutaneous pouches of different animals. Like 
other horny structures, hairs are often a secondary sex- 
ual character, either appearing on certain parts of the 
body coincidently with the maturity of the sexual func- 
tion (see puberty), or growing in a certain way in one sex 
and not in the other, as the human beard, the mane of the 
lion, etc. Though hairs are In themselves non-nervous, 
certain hairs on some animals constitute feelers or tactile 
organs of great delicacy; such are known as tactile hairs. 
Gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth 
not. Mi's. vii. 9. 
From every haire of bold Robins head 
The blood ran trickling down. 
Robin Hood and the Stranger (Child's Ballads, V. 407), 
He could distinguish and divide 
A hair 'twixt south and south-west side. 
5. Butler, Hudlbras, I. L 68. 
2. The aggregate of the hairs which grow on 
any mammal ; hairs collectively or in the mass ; 
in the widest sense, a dermal coat or covering 
either of hair (specifically so called), wool, or 
fur; pelage; in common use, the natural cap- 
illary covering of a person's head : formerly 
sometimes in the plural. 
Tho redde he me how Sampson loste his heres 
Slepynge, his lemman kitte it with hir scheres. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 721. 
His natural! haire, which was exceedingly thicke and 
curled, was so prettily elevated in height, that it served 
him always instead of a hat. Coryat, Crudities, 1. 70. 
In troth, thy hair is of an excellent colour since I saw 
it. O those bright tresses, like to threads of gold ! 
Dekker and Webster, Westward Ho, ill. 4. 
3. On animals, with the exception of most mam- 
mals, a filament ; any fine capillary or hair-like 
outgrowth from the body or any part of it, but 
especially its surface ; one of the objects which 
compose the hairiness, pubescence, or pilosity 
of an animal, or such objects collectively: used 
in both the singular and the plural: "as, the 
hair or hairs of a caterpillar, that which clothes 
or those which clothe a lobster's gills, etc. Most 
members of the animal kingdom have hah- or hairs of some 
kind, resembling the peculiar covering of mammals more 
or less nearly in appearance or function, or both, and con- 
sequently taking the same name, though the structural 
character of these appendages may be entirely different. 
hair 
4. In br>t., an expansion of the epidermis, con- 
sisting of a single cell or of a row or number 
of cells. Hairs assume 
a variety of forms, even 
the simple or unicellular 
ones being often branch- 
ed, variously curved, or 
stellate. Cotton-fibers 
are hairs consisting of 
elongated single cells. 
Compound hairs may 
start from a single cell or 
a group of cells, and may 
have their derivative 
cells arranged in many 
ways. According to 
form, hairs may be called 
capitate, clamte, vnci- 
nate, barbed, peltate, 
etc. They are often 
glandular and viscid at Vegetable Hairs. 
the extremity. Most ,, stellate hair of Draia alfina , 
hairs or branches Of hairs 2, pluricellular hair of Eritncttium 
in plants are more or less f^fyj 3- si "'P le (unicellular) 
,.,.*,_, hair of I'alenana tafitala. (All 
conical. h ^ hl magnified. ) 
5t. Haircloth; a gar- 
ment of haircloth, especially a hair shirt used 
for penance. 
She . . . under hir robe of gold, that sat ful fayre, 
Hadde next her flesshe yclad hir In an heyre. 
Chaucer, Second Nun's Tale, 1. 133. 
6. A cloth, mat, or other fabric of hair used 
for various purposes in the trades, as in the 
extraction of oils, manufacture of soap from 
cocoanut-oil, etc. 
Each bag [woolen bags containing oil-seed meal] is fur- 
ther placed within hairs, thick mate of horse-hair bound 
with leather. Encyc. Brit., XVII. 742. 
7t. Particular natural set or direction ; course ; 
order; drift; grain; character; quality. 
The quality and hv!r of our attempt 
Brooks no division. SAo*., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 1. 
A lady of my hair cannot want pitying. 
Fletcher (and another'!), Nice Valour, I 1. 
8. In mech., a locking spring or other safety 
contrivance in the lock of a rifle or pistol, 
which may be released by a very slight pressure 
on a hair-trigger. 9. One of the polyps, as 
sertularians and others, which grow on oyster- 
shells. See grai/beard, 3, and redbeard African 
hair, the fiber of the leaves of the small palm of south- 
ern Europe and northern Africa, Chameeraps humilis. 
Against the hairt, contrary to the natural set of a thing ; 
against the grain. 
Notwithstanding, I will go against the haire in all 
things, so I may please thee in anie thing. 
Lyly, Euphues and his England, sig. Aa I. 
He is melancholy without cause, and merry against the 
hair! Shalt., T. and C., i. 2. 
A hair of the dog that bit one, the same thing that 
caused the malady or trouble used as a remedy or means 
of relief ; specifically, spirits drunk in the morning after 
a debauch, for the purpose of steadying the nerves : in 
allusion to the popular superstition that a hair of the dog 
that has bitten one will cure the bite. 
Such heartsick woe. 
By an immoderate drunkennesse procurde, 
Must by a haire of the same dog be curde. 
Time's Whistle (E. E. T. S.)i 1. 1860. 
Elsley need not be blamed for pitying her [Italy] ; only 
for holding with most of our poets a vague notion that 
her woes were to be cured by a hair of the dog who bit her. 
Kingsley, Two Years Ago, x. 
Auditory hairs. See auditory. Berenice's hair. See 
Coma Berenices, under coma?. Bulb of a hair. See 
bulb. Buttoned hairs, in entotn., long stout hall's or 
setae with a knob or button at one end. Also called 
knobbed hairs. Camel's hair. See camel. Glandular 
hairs. See glandular. Gray hairs, figuratively, old 
age: as, to respect one's gray hairs. Knobbed hairs. 
Same as buttoned hairs. flat to turn a hair, not to 
show any sign of being ruffled, disordered, or discom- 
posed. 
A pint of port? Man alive! we can take two bottles, 
and never turn a hair. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 66. 
Not worth a hair, of no value; contemptible. Of a 
hairt, exactly alike. 
For the pedlar and the tinker, they are two notable 
knaves, both of a haire. 
Greene, Quip for an Upstart Courtier (Hart. Misc., V. 417). 
Stinging hair, one of the coiled filaments which spring 
out of the cnidV or nematocysts of jellyfish and other 
cieleuterates; a cnidocil ; the nrticating filament or net- 
tling thread of a thread-cell. See cut under cnida. 
Tactile hair, a hair which subserves any special sense of 
touch, as those of the whiskers of a cat. Such hairs are 
technically called pili tactiles. See vibrissa The turn 
Of a hair, a close chance ; a narrow escape. 
Colonel Capadose said that it was the turn of a hair that 
they had n't buried him alive. The Century, XXXVI. 127. 
To a hair, to a nicety ; with the utmost exactness or 
precision. 
I know my advocate to a hair, and what 
Will fetch him from his prayers, if he use any. 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iv. '_'. 
To comb one's hair the wrong way, to vex or anger one, 
especially by speech ; address one irritatingly. [Colloq. ] 
To split hairs, to be unduly nice in making distinctions. 
Compare hair-splitter, hair-splitting. 
