hair of the dog

English

Etymology

From “hair of the dog that bit you”, a folk remedy for rabies by placing hair from the dog that bites one into the wound.[1][2] The use of the phrase as a metaphor for a hangover treatment dates at least to the 16th century.[3]

The principle of “curing like with like” has existed in various cultures historically; see hair of the dog at Wikipedia for details; the use of the phrase “hair of the dog” for a hangover cure dates to antiquity, an early form being found in the Ugaritic text KTU[4] 1.1114 line 29, where the chief god of the pantheon, 'i/el, takes some for his health. The usage is in turn a borrowing from Akkadian.[5]

Pronunciation
  • Audio (AU)(file)

Noun

hair of the dog (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic) An alcoholic drink, particularly when taken the morning after to cure a hangover.
    I'll be right back. I just need a little hair of the dog what bit me.
    • 1818, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 12, in Rob Roy:
      But with the morning cool repentance came. I felt, in the keenest manner, the violence and absurdity of my conduct, and was obliged to confess that wine and passion had lowered my intellects. . . . I descended to the breakfast hall, like a criminal to receive sentence. . . . [H]e poured out a large bumper of brandy, exhorting me to swallow "a hair of the dog that had bit me."
    • 1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 52, in Barnaby Rudge:
      Ha ha! Put a good face upon it, and drink again. Another hair of the dog that bit you, captain!

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References
  1. Hair of the dog on MedTerms
  2. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898): “In Scotland it is a popular belief that a few hairs of the dog that bit you applied to the wound will prevent evil consequences. Applied to drinks, it means, if overnight you have indulged too freely, take a glass of the same wine next morning to soothe the nerves. ‘If this dog do you bite, soon as out of your bed, take a hair of the tail in the morning.’”
  3. "Poil de ce chien" in François Rabelais' 16th century pentology La Vie de Gargantua et Pantagruel, Book 5, Chapter XLVI
  4. KTU means “Keilalphabetische Texte aus Ugaric” (Cuneiform Alphabet Text from Ugarit)
  5. W.M. Schniedewind, J.H. Hunt, A Primer on Ugaritic, p. 121. Cambridge University Press, 2007. →ISBN.
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