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hair-trigger

noun
/ˈhɛɹˌtɹɪ.ɡɚ/CA/ˈhɛɚˌtɹɪɡ.ɚ/US

Etymology

From hair + trigger.

  1. derived from trekken — “to drag, draw, pull”
  2. borrowed from trekker — “pull”
  3. compounded as hair-trigger — “hair + trigger”

Definitions

  1. A trigger that will set off a firearm when even a very small pressure is applied.

    • […]the hunter brings the sight of his rifle to bear; lightly and delicately his finger presses upon the hair-trigger.
    • Is your laugh hung on a hair-trigger?—that is, is it critical, or can you get it off easy?

  2. Unstable

    Unstable; in a situation that could be worsened by the slightest mistake.

  3. Easily angered

    Easily angered; having a short temper.

    • "Gus," the latter began, "am I right in assuming that you possess a reasonable amount of influence with that hair-trigger partner of yours, Live Wire Luiz?"

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for hair-trigger. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA