to a hair en · ADP
Pronunciation
- /tuː‿ə ˈhɛə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /tu‿ə ˈhɛ(ə)ɹ/ (General-American)
Etymology
A reference to the very small diameter of a strand of hair: compare hair's breadth.
Meanings
-
(idiomatic) To a high degree of precision; with the utmost exactness; to a nicety.
As to our own representative, the well-known athlete and international Rugby football player, E. D. Malone, he looks trained to a hair, and as he surveyed the crowd a smile of good-humored contentment pervaded his honest but homely face.
1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘A Procession! A Procession!’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 298:Pand[arus]. Youle remember your brothers excuſe? / Par[is]. To a hayre.
c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
Relateds
Synonyms
Translations (13)
sh у длаку (to a high degree of precision) · fi pilkulleen (to a high degree of precision) · cy at y blewyn (to a high degree of precision) · la in unguem (to a high degree of precision) · sh u dlaku (to a high degree of precision) · la ad unguem (to a high degree of precision) · pl dokładnie (to a high degree of precision) · de haarklein (to a high degree of precision) · it spaccare il capello (to a high degree of precision) · fr à un cheveux (to a high degree of precision) · grc εἰς ὄνῠχᾰ (to a high degree of precision) · cy i'r blewyn (to a high degree of precision) · pl szczegółowo (to a high degree of precision)