Word Study
hairy
CIDE DICTIONARY
hairy, a.
- Bearing or covered with hair; made of or resembling hair; rough with hair; hirsute. [1913 Webster]"His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge." [1913 Webster]
- Very complicated, difficult, or involved; as, a hairy problem; a hairy equation. [PJC]
- Dangerous or frightening; as, a hairy encounter with a mugger. [PJC]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
hairy, adj. (hairier, hairiest)
1 made of or covered with hair.
2 having the feel of hair.
3 sl. a alarmingly unpleasant or difficult. b crude, clumsy.
1 made of or covered with hair.
2 having the feel of hair.
3 sl. a alarmingly unpleasant or difficult. b crude, clumsy.
Derivative
hairily adv. hairiness n.
THESAURUS
hairy
Herculean, abstruse, arduous, asperous, barbellate, barfy, bearded, bewhiskered, bristled, bristling, bristly, brutal, bum, bushy, capillary, chancy, cheesy, cirrose, cirrous, comate, complex, complicated, confused, confusing, craggy, crappy, creepy, critical, crummy, dangerous, delicate, demanding, difficile, difficult, dirty, downy, exacting, fibered, fibroid, fibrous, flagelliform, fleecy, flocculent, flossy, fluffy, formidable, frightening, fringy, funicular, furry, fuzzy, glochidiate, godawful, goshawful, gossamery, grim, hairlike, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought, harsh, hazardous, hirsute, hispid, icky, intricate, jagged, jawbreaking, jeopardous, knotted, knotty, laborious, lanate, ligamental, matted, mean, nappy, nerve-racking, no picnic, not easy, operose, perilous, pilose, precarious, problematic, pubescent, punk, putrid, rigorous, risky, ropy, rough, rugged, scabrous, scary, scraggy, set with thorns, setaceous, setose, setous, severe, shagged, shaggy, shitty, silky, spiny, steep, stinking, stinky, strenuous, strigal, strigate, strigose, stringy, stubbled, stubbly, studded, taeniate, taeniform, tangled, thorny, threadlike, thready, ticklish, toilsome, tough, treacherous, trichoid, tricky, tufted, uncertain, uneven, unhealthy, unshaven, unshorn, unsmooth, unsound, uphill, vomity, whiskered, wicked, wiry, woolly, worrying, yecchyROGET THESAURUS
hairy
Filament
N filament, line, fiber, fibril, funicle, vein, hair, capillament, cilium, cilia, pilus, pili, tendril, gossamer, hair stroke, veinlet, venula, venule, wire, string, thread, packthread, cotton, sewing silk, twine, twist, whipcord, tape, ribbon, cord, rope, yarn, hemp, oakum, jute, strip, shred, slip, spill, list, band, fillet, fascia, ribbon, riband, roll, lath, splinter, shiver, shaving, beard, ramification, strand, filamentous, filamentiferous, filaceous, filiform, fibrous, fibrillous, thread-like, wiry, stringy, ropy, capillary, capilliform, funicular, wire-drawn, anguilliform, flagelliform, hairy, taeniate, taeniform, taenioid, venose, venous.Roughness
N roughness, tooth, grain, texture, ripple, asperity, rugosity, salebrosity, corrugation, nodosity, arborescence, pilosity, brush, hair, beard, shag, mane, whisker, moustache, imperial, tress, lock, curl, ringlet, fimbriae, pili, cilia, villi, lovelock, beaucatcher, curl paper, goatee, papillote, scalp lock, plumage, plumosity, plume, panache, crest, feather, tuft, fringe, toupee, wool, velvet, plush, nap, pile, floss, fur, down, byssus, moss, bur, fluff, knot (convolution), rough, uneven, scabrous, scaly, knotted, rugged, rugose, rugous, knurly, asperous, crisp, salebrous, gnarled, unpolished, unsmooth, roughhewn, craggy, cragged, crankling, scraggy, prickly, arborescent, leafy, well-wooded, feathery, plumose, plumigerous, laciniate, laciniform, laciniose, pappose, pileous, pilose, trichogenous, trichoid, tufted, fimbriated, hairy, ciliated, filamentous, hirsute, crinose, crinite, bushy, hispid, villous, pappous, bearded, pilous, shaggy, shagged, fringed, befringed, setous, setose, setaceous, like quills upon the fretful porcupine, rough as a nutmeg grater, rough as a bear, downy, velvety, flocculent, woolly, lanate, lanated, lanuginous, lanuginose, tomentose, fluffy, against the grain, cabello luengo y corto el seso.For further exploring for "hairy" in Webster Dictionary Online