"Two languages in one head? No-one can live at that speed!"
"But the Dutch speak four languages and smoke marijuana."
-Eddie Izzard
Language is not only an instrument of communication or even of knowledge, but also an instrument of power. One seeks not only to be understood but also to be believed, obeyed, respected, distinguished.
-Pierre Bourdieu
Thanks in the hugest way possible to the OED(Oxford English Dictionary) online- the 1989 edition for almost the entire contents of the post; hopefully by my witty use of their excellent resource, more people will be inspired to open up this seemingly daunting volume and realize that our language which we speak is filled with paradoxes, contradictions, conundrums, catch-22s and most of all, its fun...all of it! and they say language is power!!!!(Well I searched that a little and found no sourced connections to that phrase outside of the Pierre Bourdieu quote...still I need to look more to see, and I will look more when I have more time!!!)
wow, this gets hairy and thats not setting the hares head by the goose giblet, mind you!!! :)
hair,n
I. 1. a. One of the numerous fine and generally cylindrical filaments that grow from the skin or integument of animals, esp. of most mammals, of which they form the characteristic coat; applied also to similar-looking filamentous outgrowths from the body of insects and other invertebrates, although these are generally of different structure.
e. A spring mechanism which is freed by the HAIR-TRIGGER, q.v.
5. Used as a type of what is of extremely small magnitude, value, or measure; a jot or tittle; an iota; the slightest thing; the least degree. See also to a hair in 8c.
6. Taken as the distinctive type of sort or kind; of one hair, of one colour and external quality; hence = sort, kind, nature; stamp, character. Obs.
7. A cloth, mat, or other fabric of hair used for various purposes in some trades, e.g. in hop-drying, extraction of oils, etc.; a haircloth.
[Historically, the same word as HAIRE, which, in losing the final e, has become identical in form with this.]
II. Phrases and locutions.
8. a. against the hair: contrary to the direction in which an animal's hair naturally lies; contrary to the natural set of a thing; against the grain, inclination, or sentiment. b. in one's hair: (a) with the hair down; (b) bare-headed, without hat or wig; (c) being a nuisance or encumbrance, in one's way; usu. with get and have (orig. U.S.); so out of one's hair: out of one's way, not encumbering (see sense 8q below). c. to a hair: to a nicety, with the utmost exactness. d. hair about the heels: a mark of under-bred horses; hence fig. of persons.
heir
1. a. The person who is entitled by law to succeed another in the enjoyment of property or rank, upon the death of the latter; one who so succeeds; in general use, one who receives or is entitled to receive property of any kind as the legal representative of a former owner.
The word is correctly applied to either a male or a female, although, in the latter sense, HEIRESS has been in general use since 17th c. In Law a person is not called an heir to any property until, through the death of its possessor, he becomes entitled to it (nemo est heres viventis). As to the limitations of the word in Common Law and in the Civil Law and systems founded thereon, see quots. 1651, 1861, 1876.
b. With qualifications:
heir-at-law: the person who succeeds another by right of blood in the enjoyment of his property; in English law confined to one who has such a right in real property, and distinguished from executors or administrators. heir of blood: see quot. 1658. heir of the body: an heir who is a direct descendant: see BODY n. 12b. heir in capite: the heir to land held directly of the sovereign. heir of conquest (Sc. Law): the heir of an ancestor who acquired the estate in question by purchase and not by succession (see CONQUEST n. 6). heir by custom: one who succeeds by virtue of a particular or local custom, e.g. Borough English, under which the youngest son succeeds his father. heir-designate, one who has been designated as a person's heir. heir by destination (Sc. Law): ‘the person who is entitled to succeed, failing the person to whom an estate is disponed’ (Bell Dict. Law Scotl.). heir by devise: ‘he who is made, by will, the testator's heir or devisee, and has no other right or interest than the will gives him’ (Wharton Law Lex.). heir of entail = heir in tail. heir female: an heiress; also an heir (male or female) whose rights are derived through a female or females. heir general = heir-at-law: used to include heirs female as well as heirs male. heir of inheritance: see quot. 1658 s.v. heir of blood. heir of inventory (Sc. Law) = beneficiary heir (see below). heir of line (Sc. Law) = heir-at-law. heir male: an heir who is a male, and who traces his descent from the ancestor in question wholly through males. heir portioner (Sc. Law): see quots. heir of provision = heir by destination. heir presumptive: he who, if the ancestor should die immediately, would be his heir, but whose right of inheritance may be defeated by the contingency of some nearer heir being born. heir special: (a) = heir by custom; (b) one to whom an estate passes by virtue of letters patent or a deed of entail. heir in tail (Sc. of entail, of tail e londes æt hi mosten freo faran. a1250 Owl & Night. 383 Ich mai iseon so wel so on hare. c1330 R. BRUNNE Chron. (1810) 210 About to take hares with foxes, to kiss the hare's foot: to be late. to set the hare's head (foot, hare-pie) against the goose-giblet: to let one thing serve as a set-off to another. here or there the hare went or goes away: here or there the matter ended. Also, expressions referring to Æsop's Fable of the Race between the Hare and the Tortoise.
hare,v1,
1. trans. To harry; to worry; to harass.
2. To frighten, to scare.
hare,v2
a. To double like a hare. b. To run or move with great speed. Also with it.
intr. and run jolly quick’! a1914 J. E. RAPHAEL Mod. Rugby Football (1918) 262 Receiving the ball well inside his own half-way, Palmer commenced to ‘hare’ for the touch-line. 1917 P. GIBBS Battles of Somme 173 There were other trenches ahead, and the men ‘hared’ off to these. 1923 WODEHOUSE Inimitable Jeeves xiv. 178, I..hared it rapidly to the spot. 1957 Listener 19 Dec. 1046/1 The producer..can't go haring about collecting the items. 1958 Woman 11 Jan. 47/1, I hared up to London, left my book with the publishers and went to my flat. 1963 Times 13 June 5/1 Boulter took over by the backstraight and went haring away past 660 yards in 1 min. 21.1 sec.
This was all started by Sock, which has more than half a dozen listings as a noun, a half a dozen as a verb, and several expressions or compound words. A sock can be a very complex thing!!!
sock n no.1
1. a. A covering for the foot, of the nature of a light shoe, slipper, or pump. Now rare or Obs.
c1440 Promp. Parv. 400/2 Pynsone, sokke, pedipomita. 1451 J. CAPGRAVE Life St. Gilbert 99 A peyre of old sokkys, or pinsones, whech our maystir had often wered.
sock n no.5
Eatables of various kinds, especially dainties.
1881 in Pascoe Every-day Life, etc. 25 The consumption of ‘sock’ too in school was considerable.
sock v no.3
a. trans. To treat (one) to sock; to present or give (something) to one. b. intr. To buy or consume sock.
1842 Eton Bureau 162 Sock means prog, but when you sock a boy anything, he eats it, and you pay for it... I was asked by x to sock him a verse the other day, and I had to sock him a construe of his lesson too. 1850 N. & Q. 1st Ser. II. 44/2 That a schoolfellow would ‘sock him’, i.e. treat him to sock at the pastry cooks. 1883 J. BRINSLEY-RICHARDS Seven Years Eton v. 38 We Eton fellows, great and small, ‘socked’ prodigiously. 1889 Macm. Mag. Nov. 65 My governor socked me a book.
Sockeroo
Something with an overwhelming impact, a ‘smash’.
1964 Spectator 7 Feb. 178 This latest box-office sockeroo also provides a modest example of the industry's throat-cutting activities.
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