hairy
part of speech
adjective (hairy, hairier, hairiest)
meaning for a pupil
1) Hairy means covered in a lot of hair. tree →
2) Informally, hairy means frightening or dangerous, often in an exciting way («a hairy moment»). tree →
sense in the lessons
In science it describes animals and plants (hairy caterpillars, hairy leaves, hairy spiders). In everyday life and stories it describes people's arms, legs, chests and pets, and in informal speech a scary situation, like a close call on a bike or in the car. Phrases: «a hairy moment», «things got a bit hairy».
examples
- My dad has very hairy arms. tree →
- The hairy caterpillar can make your skin itch, so do not touch it. tree →
- Our dog is so hairy that the sofa is covered in fur. tree →
- Some plants have hairy leaves that keep insects away. tree →
- The ride down the steep hill was a bit hairy. tree →
- Things got hairy when the boat started to tip. tree →
- A tarantula is a big, hairy spider. tree →
- Coconuts have a hairy brown shell. tree →
- ‘Oh! what hairy arms you’ve got, Grandmother!’ tree →
note
Comparative «hairier», superlative «hairiest». The informal sense is casual speech, not for formal writing. Do not confuse with «hare» (an animal like a big rabbit). Safety: some hairy caterpillars can sting or cause a rash.
In the corpora
- The hairs of some caterpillars, such as the oak processionary, cause rashes, so you do not touch hairy caterpillars.
- Bees feed on nectar and pollen, and carry pollen from flower to flower on their hairy bodies.
- Woolly mammoths, hairy relatives of elephants, lived during the last Ice Age, long after the dinosaurs.
- And the first came forth ruddy, all over like a hairy mantle; and they called his name Esau.
- And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «hairy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.