Got one by the short hairs In english explanation

The meaning, explanation, definition and origin of the idiom/phrase "got one by the short hairs", English Idiom Dictionary ( also found in Vietnamese )

Jimmy Hung

2021-09-13 04:09

Meaning of Got one by the short hairs (redirected from get (someone) by the short hairs )

Synonyms:

have someone by the balls , have someone over a barrel

Get (someone) by the short hairs British informal verb phrase

The verb "get" can be replaced by "have".

To have someone in a difficult situation in which you have complete power over them

I got Jay by the short hairs because I knew what he had done.

He got us by the short hairs when he found out about our little secret.

I cannot do anything against him because he gets me by the short hairs.

Other phrases about:

at (someone's) mercy

Under the control of or controlled by the acts of another, without the power to protect or liberate oneself.

Grammar and Usage of Get (someone) by the short hairs

Verb Forms

gets (someone) by the short hairs
got (someone) by the short hairs

Origin of Get (someone) by the short hairs

The phrase refers to the hairs on the neck and it may have been used in the military. It was first used by Rudyard Kipling in The Drums of the Fore and Aft from 1890, regarding the British Army's occupation of India:

"They'll shout and carry on like this for five minutes. Then they'll rush in, and then we've got 'em by the short hairs!"

The meaning of the phrase changed when L. Dorothy Slayers in her collaboration with Robert Eustace in her novel Doctors in Case from 1930 wrote:

“She’s evidently got her husband by the short hairs.”

Since then, the phrase has been used in different variants.