HAIRY (hairier, hairiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: hairier    , hairiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hairy mean? 

• HAIRY (adjective)
  The adjective HAIRY has 2 senses:

1. having or covered with hair

2. hazardous and frightening

  Familiarity information: HAIRY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HAIRY (adjective)

Comparative: hairier   
Superlative: hairiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having or covered with hair

Synonyms:

haired; hairy; hirsute

Context example:

a hairy caterpillar

Similar:

soft-haired (having soft hair)

rough-haired (having hair that feels rough)

shock-headed (having a shock (or untidy mass) of hair)

short-haired (with short hair)

silky-haired (having hair that resembles silk)

silver-haired (having hair the color of silver)

smooth-haired (having hair that feels smooth)

snake-haired ((of monsters) having snakes for hair)

pilary; pilose; pilous (covered with hairs especially fine soft ones)

stiff-haired (having stiff hair)

thick-haired (having thick hair)

tomentose; tomentous (densely covered with short matted woolly hairs)

velvety-furred; velvety-haired (having hair that feels like velvet)

wire-haired; wiry-coated ((especially of dogs) having stiff wiry hair)

wiry (of hair that resembles wire in stiffness)

woolly; woolly-haired; wooly; wooly-haired (covered with dense often matted or curly hairs)

pappose ((of plants such as dandelions and thistles) having pappi or tufts of featherlike hairs or delicate bristles)

long-haired (with long hair)

lanate; woolly (covered with dense cottony hairs or hairlike filaments)

hispid ((of animals or plants) having stiff coarse hairs or bristles)

glossy-coated; glossy-furred; glossy-haired (having glossy hair)

fuzzed; fuzzy (covering with fine light hairs)

furred; furry (covered with a dense coat of fine silky hairs)

furlike (resembling fur)

floccose ((of plants) having tufts of soft woolly hairs)

downy; puberulent; pubescent; sericeous (covered with fine soft hairs or down)

dark-coated; dark-haired (covered with dark hair)

curly-coated; curly-haired (covered with curly hair)

comal; comate; comose (of certain seeds (such as cotton) having a tuft or tufts of hair)

coarse-furred; coarse-haired (having coarse hair or fur)

canescent; hoary (covered with fine whitish hairs or down)

Antonym:

hairless (having no hair or fur)

Derivation:

hair (a filamentous projection or process on an organism)

hair (a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss)

hairiness (the quality of having hair)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hazardous and frightening

Context example:

hairy moments in the mountains

Similar:

alarming (frightening because of an awareness of danger)

 Context examples 

A measurement of the hairy cells (b-cell lymphocytes with hairy projections from the cytoplasm) in a biological specimen.

(Hairy Cell Count, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

A rare neoplasm of small B-lymphocytes with "hairy" projections in bone marrow, spleen, and peripheral blood.

(Hairy cell leukemia, NCI Thesaurus/WHO)

Biologically, it is not related to hairy cell leukemia.

(Hairy Cell Leukemia Variant, NCI Thesaurus)

The determination of the number of hairy cells present in a sample.

(Hairy Cell Count, NCI Thesaurus)

It usually presents as a dark brown to black hairy lesion.

(Giant Congenital Nevus, NCI Thesaurus)

Elevated expression of the gene is associated with Gaucher and Hodgkin diseases, and with hairy cell, B-cell, and T-cell leukemias.

(ACP5 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

When the clonal cellular population is composed of lymphocytes, it is classified as chronic lymphocytic leukemia, hairy cell leukemia, or T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia.

(Chronic leukemia, NCI Thesaurus)

It may present as a small macular, papular, or plaque-like lesion or as a large brown to black hairy skin lesion.

(Congenital Melanocytic Nevus, NCI Thesaurus)

The determination of the ratio of hairy cells compared to lymphocytes present in a sample.

(Hairy Cell to Lymphocyte Ratio Measurement, NCI Thesaurus)

A relative measurement (ratio or percentage) of the hairy cells (b-cell lymphocytes with hairy projections from the cytoplasm) to all lymphocytes in a biological specimen .

(Hairy Cell to Lymphocyte Ratio Measurement, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)