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hair-trigger. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
hair-trigger, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
hair-trigger in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From hair + trigger.
Pronunciation
Noun
hair-trigger (plural hair-triggers)
- A trigger that will set off a firearm when even a very small pressure is applied.
1847, Francis Parkman, The Oregon Trail:[…] the hunter brings the sight of his rifle to bear; lightly and delicately his finger presses upon the hair-trigger.
1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter LXXVIII, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company , published 1872, →OCLC, page 560:Is your laugh hung on a hair-trigger?—that is, is it critical, or can you get it off easy?
Translations
Adjective
hair-trigger (not comparable)
- Unstable; in a situation that could be worsened by the slightest mistake.
- Easily angered; having a short temper.
- Synonym: hair-triggered
1922, Peter B. Kyne, Cappy Rick Retires, page 339:"Gus," the latter began, "am I right in assuming that you possess a reasonable amount of influence with that hair-trigger partner of yours, Live Wire Luiz?"
2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):n the 575 days since Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, there has been an unseemly scramble to construct revisionist histories, to identify evidence beneath that placid exterior of a pugnacious, hair-trigger personality.