Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. dangerous, exciting.

1884		Sporting Gaz. (London) 6 Dec. 1559/2: [T]he obstacles about were what are called in slang terms ‘hairy,’ and it would have been worth seeing the fine riding which would have been required to successfully negotiate them.
1904		Star (NZ) 23 Mar. 4/2: [from Longman’s Mag.] It doesn’t look very hairy, here ahead.
1917		‘Sapper’ No Man’s Land 92: This sunken road is always hairy [...] It were unwise to linger, sir.
1923		M. Garahan Stiffs 241: It was a hairy ride.
1957		‘Weldon Hill’ Onionhead (1958) 207: There would be a hairy expolosion when Higgins found out.
1961		(con. 1945) G. Forbes Goodbye to Some (1963) 193: Ainsworth took him into some big hairy cus when they sighted the fighters and he lost him due to awful turbulence, which Tuck says, scared him more than the fighters.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 16: The Ricans had some other hairy guys.
1981		M. Baker Nam (1982) 74: You hit the LZ and it’s hot. The door opens up and you run out screaming [...] That’s got to be the hairiest thing in the world. Adrenaline for days.
1992		R.G. Barrett White Shoes 155: Chill mmories of the shoot-out with the IRA [...] flashed across Norton’s mind. Christ! I hope it’s not anywhere as hairy as that.
1999		Indep. Rev. 18 June 8: There were a few hairy moments [...] when drinkers pelted him with bottles.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 39: As I got older the games got hairier. And even more fun.
2020		A. Parks Bobby March Will Live Forever 120: ‘Weekends in there [i.e. a shebeen] can get hairy. Believe me, I know’.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 106: The conditions were hairy, and unfortunately the longer you stayed on the job, the more normal they became; even seeing things like [a hanging body] became normal.

2. difficult.

1951		D. Dressler Parole Chief 156: I was diligently supervising more tractable and less hairy parolees.
1962		H.S. Thompson letter 19 Oct. in Proud Highway (1997) 357: Had I not been rich, things would have turned hairy in a hurry.
1974		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 129: Take it very easy [...] This whole affair could become pretty hairy.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 122: The layout sounds a little hairy but I think we can handle it.
1991		D. Gaines Teenage Wasteland 112: Sometimes, when things get hairy, they grasp at particular elements of their religions of origin.
2000		Indep. Rev. 22 Jan. 5: There were a few hairy moments.
2010		K. Richards Life 281: Stu said [...] ‘Getting a bit hairy, Keith’.

3. excellent, first-rate.

1892		Kipling Barrack-Room Ballads ‘The Widow at Windsor’ (1893) 179: Did you hear of the Widow of Windsor with a hairy gold crown on her head?
1923		M. Garahan Stiffs 175: I leapt in with a real hairy idea.
1960		Baltimore Sun (MD) Sun. Mag. 4 Dec. 9/1: He had feet, rodded a bomb that was real hairy, and stacked up as the ginchiest speed man in school.

4. wary, sharp.

1914		Joyce ‘Two Gallants’ Dubliners (1956) 49: She doesn’t know my name. I was too hairy to tell her that. But she thinks I’m a bit of class, you know.
1967		A. Niederhogger Behind the Shield 55: [of NYPD sl.] ‘Hairy’ stands for smart, shrewd, and conniving. ‘On the arm,’ and ‘egghead’ are fairly well known in common parlance.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 327: The police officers give each other a hairy look.

5. (orig. Irish) impressive, sometimes used as an intensive.

1867		R. Whiteing Mr Sprouts, His Opinions 21: I chucks on my new velveteen startler [...] and a hairy cap, and them high-lows as I had made.
1904		Star (NZ) 23 Mar. 4/2: [from Longman’s Mag.] A Johnnie named Malherbe [...] is breaking down for the colony with his commando, about four hundred of them — a hairy old lot.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 165: O, by God, Blazes is a hairy chap.
1946		(con. 1912) B. Marshall George Brown’s Schooldays 91: I say, you have got a hairy pluck, haven’t you?
1950		A. Buckeridge Jennings Goes To School 34: It’s just super-hairy cheek.
1966		R.E. Alter Carny Kill (1993) 20: Some hairy-lunged college boy [...] blew through a horn that was ten feet long.

6. (US) bad or unsatisfactory.

1923		M. Garahan Stiffs 180: Cherry declared that if he had been a bit ‘hairy’ years ago, for the last five years he had lived a blameless life.
1946		(con. 1914) B. Marshall George Brown’s Schooldays 177: It’ll be a hairy pity if your nose starts running but you’ll just have to use your sleeve.
1950		A. Buckeridge Jennings Goes To School 90: Oh, don’t be such a hairy ruin.
1975		L. Rosten Dear ‘Herm’ 309: His barbecued perch [...] tasted pretty hairy to me.
1999		Guardian Rev. 10 July 7: It was a hairy old (and some said tasteless) gag.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 96: hairy 1. Rundown or of doubtful value.

7. (US) stylish, excellent.

1963

M. Braly Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 106: ‘Where’d you get the hairy fiddle?’ Cabiness pulled at the front of his new suit coat.

8. weird, complicated.

1961		H.S. Thompson letter 8 Dec. in Proud Highway (1997) 297: That second letter of yours struck me as an extremely hairy thing. Like finding a toad in the mailbox.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 102: hairy 1. (dated) complex, involved, entangled.
1987		(con. 1968) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 289: Mosby couldn’t see all these suffering old folks dancing the polka with a bunch of hairy bikers.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 68: It’s too hairy to explain over the phone.
2005		J.E. Lawson Last Burn in Hell 12: It’s tragic when shit gets hairy / And you’re buried io potter’s field dead with your dick in the dirt.