hair of the dog that bit you

Cultural  

1. A remedy that contains a small amount of whatever caused the ailment: “When Anne had a bad hangover, Paul offered her a Bloody Mary and said, ‘Have a little of the hair of the dog that bit you.’”

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hair of the dog that bit you Idioms  

1. Whatever made you ill used as a remedy, especially alcohol as a hangover cure. For example, A little hair of the dog will cure that hangover in no time. This expression, already a proverb in John Heywood's 1546 compendium, is based on the ancient folk treatment for dogbite of putting a burnt hair of the dog on the wound. It is often shortened, as in the example.

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Example Sentences

But the most common remedy has always been figurative: to pluck a hair of the dog that bit you.

From Slate • Nov. 20, 2018

Night had come, in fact, when the larger number of the officers met at a solemn “Dämmerschoppen” at the Casino,—a process of applying hair of the dog that bit you to cure the injury.

From A Little Garrison A Realistic Novel of German Army Life of To-day by Bilse, Fritz Oswald

My dear sir, a hair of the dog that bit you is clearly indicated.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 20 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis

Oh," said Scattergood, "jest made use of the sayin' about curin' with the hair of the dog that bit you.

From Scattergood Baines by Kelland, Clarence Budington