To make one’s hair stand on end, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To astonish.
1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, lv., 4. It’s well you are come: I’m so frightened, my hair stands on end.
1886. J. S. Winter, Army Society, ch. iii. If I were to tell you some incidents of my life since you and I last met, I should make your hair stand on end.
A Hair of the Dog that Bit you, subs. phr. (common).—A ‘pick-me-up’ after a debauch. [Apparently a memory of the superstition, which was and still is common, that, being bitten by a dog, one cannot do better than pluck a handful of hair from him, and lay it on the wound. Also figuratively, see quot. 1888.]
1531. Bovilli, Prov. ii., xvi. siècle, t. i., p. 102. Du poil de la beste qui te mordis, Ou de son sanc sera guéris.
1546. Heywood, Proverbs [1874], 79. What how fellow, thou knave, I pray thee let me and my fellow have A haire of the dog that bit us last night. And bitten were we bothe to the braine aright.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fayre, I. ’Twas a hot night with some of us, last night, John: shall we pluck a hair of the same wolf to-day, proctor John?
1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 2. Lady Gur. But, Sir John, your ale is terrible strong and heady.… Sir John. Why, indeed, it is apt to fox one; but our way is to take a hair of the same dog next morning.
1841. Dickens, B. Rudge, ch. lii. Put a good face upon it, and drink again. Another hair of the dog that bit you, captain!
1888. Detroit Free Press. ‘Talk of the Day,’ 3 Nov. Travis.—‘Hello, De Smith! You’re looking better than I expected. I understood that you were completely crushed by that love affair. How did you recover?’ De Smith.—‘Hair of the dog that bit me. Fell in love with another girl.’ [[248]]