English

Alternative forms

• hair curling, haircurling

Adjective

hair-curling ‎(comparative more hair-curling, superlative most hair-curling)

1. Exciting, astonishing, frightening, or horrifying.
   • 1943, Arthur Otis, "Belden Pens a Hair-Curling Story of Disaster in Burma," Chicago Daily Tribune, 14 March, p. F10 (retrieved 9 Nov 2010):

     But, first and foremost, "Retreat with Stilwell" is a rip snorting, spine tingling, hair curling story, and as such it is quite likely to hold you.

   • 1960, Lewis Nichols, "In and Out of Books," New York Times, 7 Feb., p. BR8:

     Many of Mr. Dahl's stories are hair-curling tales of man's inhumanity to man, particularly woman's to man.

   • 1976, Eugene Patterson, "They're not saying ‘Jimmy Who?’," St. Petersburg Times, 18 July (retrieved 9 Nov 2010):

     [T]he era of good feeling Carter has created in his party . . . could be a prelude to an activist presidency bent on shaking and changing the status quo with hair-curling audacity.

   • 2008, J. Gibson and E. Tadros, "A touch of nostalgia up for grabs," Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), 7 Oct. (retrieved 9 Nov 2010):

     If the walls . . . could talk, they would reveal some hair-curling secrets.

Synonyms

• hair-raising

Related terms

• curl someone's hair