Not worth a Hair, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Utterly worthless. Cf., Cent, Rap, Dump, etc.
To a Hair, adv. phr.—(colloquial).—Exactly; to a nicety. Cf., To fit to a Hair = to fit perfectly.
1697. Vanbrugh, Æsop, i, 1. Here was a young gentlewoman but just now pencilled me out to a hair.
1738. Swift, Polite Conversation. Miss. Well I love a Lyar with all my Heart; and you fit me to a hair.
1891. W. C. Russell, Ocean Tragedy, p. 30. The fellow fits my temper to a hair.
To split Hairs, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To cavil about trifles; to quibble; to be over-nice in argument.
1693. Congreve, Old Bachelor, ii., 2. Now, I must speak; it will split a hair by the Lord Harry.
Suit of Hair, subs. phr. (American).—A head of hair (q.v.). [[247]]
To raise (or lift) Hair, verb. phr. (American).—To scalp; hence, idiomatically, to defeat; to kill. To keep one’s hair = to escape a danger.
1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 194. Kit Carson … had raised more hair from the red-skins than any two men in the Western country.