Hair of the dog that bit you

Definition of hair of the dog (that bit you)

informal

: an alcoholic drink that is taken by someone to feel better after having drunk too much at an earlier time

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“Hair of the dog (that bit you).” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hair%20of%20the%20dog%20%28that%20bit%20you%29. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022.

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Merriam-Webster unabridged

Hair of the dog is the abbreviated term for the entire phrase, hair of the dog that bit you. This phrase has a quite literal origin. We’ll look at the meaning of hair of the dog, its ancient origins, and some examples of how the term is used today.

Hair of the dog is a small alcoholic drink one drinks in the morning in order to cure a hangover. Doctors tell us that this hangover cure does not work. You are better off drinking copious amounts of water, as most of the symptoms of a hangover come from dehydration. The belief behind this folk cure is that like cures like. Curiously, the term hair of the dog that bit you comes from the literal practice of treating a rabid dog bite by packing it with hair from the rabid dog who made the bite or concocting a potion to drink made with the rabid dog’s hair. This treatment is first seen in The Natural History by Pliny the Elder, who lived AD 23-79. By the late Middle Ages, the phrase hair of the dog that bit you became a cheeky way to refer to an alcoholic drink taken the morning after too much revelry.

Examples

Specialty cocktails are listed among other alcoholic options, which is good news for those looking forward to a hair of the dog since it may be soon legal to start serving alcohol at 10 a.m. Sundays. (The Democrat and Chronicle)

She started drinking the wine she’d stashed in her purse that day as a little “hair of the dog” for a bad hangover from the previous night’s drinking. (The Independent Journal Review)

The hair of the dog may well have been called for as Charlie recovered from his weekend bender. (The Irish Examiner)

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the hair of the dog (that bit you)

An alcoholic drink consumed to remedy a hangover. The phrase comes from the notion that literally rubbing the hair of the dog that bit you on the wound would help it to heal. Wow, all that beer has left me feeling terrible this morning. The only cure is the hair of the dog, I guess!

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

hair of the dog that bit (one)

Fig. a drink of liquor taken when one has a hangover; a drink of liquor taken when one is recovering from drinking too much liquor. (Often the same type of liquor as one got drunk on.) Oh, I'm miserable. I need some of the hair of the dog that bit me. That's some hangover you've got there, Bob. Here, drink this. It's some of the hair of the dog that bit you.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

hair of the dog that bit you

Whatever made you ill used as a remedy, especially alcohol as a hangover cure. For example, A little hair of the dog will cure that hangover in no time. This expression, already a proverb in John Heywood's 1546 compendium, is based on the ancient folk treatment for dogbite of putting a burnt hair of the dog on the wound. It is often shortened, as in the example.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

a hair of the dog

SPOKEN

A hair of the dog is an alcoholic drink that someone has to try to make them feel better after drinking too much alcohol the day before. I need a drink, chum. A large hair of the dog. Note: You can also talk about a hair of the dog that bit you. Now he was feeling worse and wondering if a hair of the dog that bit him might not set him up for the day. Note: There was an old belief that if a person was bitten by a mad dog, they could be cured by putting some hairs from the dog's tail on the wound.

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

hair of the dog

a small quantity of alcohol taken as a remedy for a hangover. informal

The full form of this phrase is hair of the dog that bit you . Hair from a rabid dog was at one time thought to be a remedy against the effects of its bite; in this expression, the recommended cure for a hangover is a small amount of the cause of the problem.

1987 Bruce Allen Powe The Ice Eaters Murray, still feeling the effects of the previous evening, had suggested they go into a bar because he needed a hair of the dog.

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

the hair of the ˈdog (that ˈbit you)

(informal) an alcoholic drink taken in the morning in order to help cure the unpleasant effects of drinking too much alcohol the night before: ‘Why are you drinking whisky at 8 o’clock in the morning?’ ‘Hair of the dog. I’ve got the most terrible hangover.’In the past, if a person was bitten by a dog, burnt hair from the same dog was used as a protection against infection.

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

hair of the dog

A small amount of what made one ill might be used as a remedy; recipe for curing a hangover. This expression appeared in John Heywood’s Proverbs of 1546 (“I pray thee let me and my fellow have a haire of the dog that bit us last night”) and alludes to the even older folk remedy of treating a dog bite by placing the burnt hair of a dog on the wound. Although having a drink is a dubious cure for the aftereffects of alcoholic overindulgence, the expression is still used, and occasionally is transferred to other matters.

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer

hair of the dog that bit you

More alcohol to counteract the effects of a hangover. Most ancient civilizations and many modern ones believed that the most effective cure for a dog bite was a bundle of the canine's hair tied inside or around the wound. On the same theory that the injury's cause could also be the cure came the metaphor for taking a drink of alcohol to lessen, if not eliminate, the discomfort of “the morning after.” There's some truth to the idea: a Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, and another alcoholic beverage will take the edge off your hangover by making you drunk (or drunker) again, but alas, another slug of the demon rum won't cure the underlying problem, and at some point the piper will have to be paid.

Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price

See also:
  • a hair of the dog
  • hair of the dog
  • hair of the dog that bit
  • hair of the dog that bit you
  • the hair of the dog
  • bite the dog that bit you
  • bighead
  • polish up
  • polished up
  • bottle

Does hair of the dog that bit you work?

But it did give rise to the notion that "the hair of the dog that bit you" -- a drink -- can cure a hangover. This concept is rather ancient, too, having first appeared in print in 1546. It doesn't work, either. "There's no scientific evidence that having an alcoholic drink will cure a hangover," said Laura Veach, Ph.

Where did the phrase hair of the dog that bit you come from?

Originally, the expression referred to a method of treating a rabid dog bite; hair from the dog was placed in the wound. So in that sense, having another drink (any drink) is like taking hair from the dog that bit you.

What does bite the dog that bit you mean?

To again ingest something that recently made one ill, especially drinking more alcohol in order to cure a hangover. A: "You need to bite the dog that bit you if you want to feel better." B: "Ew, no! I'm never touching vodka ever again!"

How do you use hair of the dog in a sentence?

But now he was feeling the worse for it and wondering if a hair of the dog that bit him might not set him up for the day.