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hairsbreadth. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
From hair + -s- + breadth.
Pronunciation
Noun
hairsbreadth (plural hairsbreadths)
- Alternative form of hair's breadth: a very short distance or a very small amount (as is the width of a hair).
c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 54, column 1:[...] I ſee you are obſequious in your loue, and I profeſſe requitall to a haires bredth, [...]
1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “The Word of a Gentleman”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1857, →OCLC, book the first (Poverty), page 265:[I]t was characteristic of this man, as it is of all men similarly marked, that whatever he did, he overdid, though it were sometimes by only a hair's-breadth [...]
1919, John Buchan, Mr. Standfast:We've missed our shot by a hairsbreadth and that's the same as missing by miles.
- 2010 March, Neil McDonald, Quadrant, Quadrant Magazine Limited, volume LIV, number 3 (number 464 overall), page 100:
- In Avatar the spectacular rides to the rescue and hairsbreadth escapes have the whole film behind them and because of that are dramatically and emotionally satisfying.
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