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English
Pronunciation
Verb
curl someone's hair
- (idiomatic) To frighten, dismay, or excite someone thoroughly.
1903, Andy Adams, chapter 7, in The Log of a Cowboy:"I'm not hankering for the dramatic in life, but we had a run last night that would curl your hair."
1917, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 16, in The Sheriff's Son:"Tell the son-of-a-gun for me that next time we meet I'll curl his hair right."
- 1947, Harry Sylvester, Moon Gaffney (1976 edition), ISBN 780405093593, p. 116:
- "I'd have written him such a letter as would have curled his hair."
- 2004, Abigail Van Buren, "Dear Abby," Beaver Country Times, 4 Oct. (retrieved 10 Oct 2010):
- After I printed that letter the volume of mail I received from survivors of child sexual abuse curled my hair.
2008, Jackie Kessler, Hell's Belles[1], →ISBN, page 317:Yanking open the door to the bathroom, I was greeted with a stink foul enough to curl my hair.