Hair of the Dog
Meaning
Hair of the Dog refers to the expression hair of the dog that bit you, used for referring to the practice of consuming alcohol in order to ease on the symptoms of hangover.
Origin
The expression comes from the medieval practice of using the “hair of the dog” that bit someone to counter the development of rabies.
This practice most likely originates from the idea of “like cures like” coming from Hippocrates’ era.
One of the earliest prescriptions containing “hair of the dog” comes from a text excavated from the ancient city of Ugarit.
Spread and Usage
“Hair of the dog” appeared in Western European texts around the 16th and 17th century, notably in Rabelais’ Gargantua and Pantagruel.
The phrase appeared in works embraced by popular culture, such as Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and the video game The Curse of Monkey Island.
“Hair of the dog” was first defined on Urban Dictionary in 2003.
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