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What is the origin of the idiom in “A hair-raising story”?

hair-raising: causing excitement, terror, or thrills
American Heritage® Dictionary

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    It started since humans were still emerging from being a chimp. It is found in many languages. Oct 18, 2015 at 8:39
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    This is such a fundamental reaction in humans (and many other animals) that identifying an "origin" (in terms of the first use in print) is impossible.
    – Hot Licks
    Oct 18, 2015 at 12:30

2 Answers 2

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Hair-raising (adj.) used referring to excitement or terror dates back to the first part of the 19th century and it probably refers to the natural reaction we have in front of an exciting/terrible event:

  • "exciting," 1837, from hair + raise (v.). In 19c. works, sometimes as jocular mock-classical tricopherous. (Etymonline)

Make one's hair stand on end:

  • A reference to the effect of extreme terror on the hair of the arms, head, etc. as noted for example in Job: 'Fear came upon me, and trembling ... the hair of my flesh stood up' (4: 14-5). Hence hair-raising and its slang abbreviation hairy (dangerous, risky).

(tinyonline.co.com)

This is first found in Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1602:

  • "I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, thy knotted and combined locks to part and each particular hair to stand an end, like quills upon the fretful porpentine."

    • Shakespeare conjured up many images in his works; few though an have been more vivid than the mental picture of a fretful porcupine.

    • The allusion of makes your hair stand on end is to the actual sensation of hairs, especially those on the neck, standing upright when the skin contracts due to cold or to fear. This is otherwise known as 'goose-flesh' and the condition is, or rather was, known by the entirely splendid word horripilation. This was defined by Thomas Blount in his equally splendidly named book Glossographia, or a dictionary interpreting such hard words as are now used, 1656:

  • "Horripilation, the standing up of the hair for fear... a sudden quaking, shuddering or shivering."

the Phrase Finder

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    Is the question asking for a prototypical origin or a thesaurus answer? Oct 18, 2015 at 8:43
  • I think it is an interesting question about a natural human reaction that has generated fixed expressions and idioms, tracking back its origin is the question.
    – user66974
    Oct 18, 2015 at 8:47
  • Also, there are several expressions using the term "hackles", relating to the same phenomenon.
    – Hot Licks
    Oct 18, 2015 at 21:39
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It has to do with goose bumps. When we are scared, excited or maybe just cold sometimes these 'goose bumps' develop raising the hair on your arms and legs. From this we get 'hair-raising' and thus 'a hair-raising story' {or experience, adventure...}

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