Crossword clues for hairball
The Collaborative International Dictionary
hairball \hair"ball`\, hair ball \hair" ball`\(h[^a]r"b[e^]l`), n. a compact mass of hair that forms in the stomach of animals as a result of licking fur; as, the cat coughed up a hairball right on the new rug. [WordNet sense 1 + 2]
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. 1 A small wad of fur or mass of hair formed in the digestive system of a cat or other animal, from hair ingested while grooming. 2 (context slang figuratively English) A messy, tangled, intractable, stay-away-from-it issue.
WordNet
n. a compact mass of hair that forms in the alimentary canal (especially in the stomach of animals as a result of licking fur) [syn: hair ball, trichobezoar]
Wikipedia
A hairball is a small collection of hair or fur formed in the stomach of animals that is occasionally vomited up when it becomes too big. Hairballs are primarily a tight elongated cylinder of packed fur, but may include bits of other elements such as swallowed food. Hairballs are sometimes mistaken for other conditions of the stomach such as lymphosarcoma, tuberculosis, and tumour of the spleen. Felids are especially prone to hairball formation since they groom themselves by licking their fur, and thereby ingest it. Rabbits are also prone to hairballs because they groom themselves in the same fashion as cats, but hairballs are especially dangerous for rabbits because they cannot regurgitate them. Because the digestive system of a rabbit is very fragile, rabbit hairballs must be treated immediately or they may cause the animal to stop feeding and ultimately die due to dehydration. Cattle are also known to accumulate hairballs, but as they do not vomit, these are found usually after death and can be quite large.
Usage examples of "hairball".
Weeds-of-tumbling like enormous hairballs rolled often across the Interstate Highway of I-10 far below.
In this I agree with Robert Fagles in his 1990 translation that while these more latinized versions are farther from the Greek—Hektor versus Akhilleus and the Akhaians and the Argeioi—the more faithful version sometimes sounds like a cat coughing up a hairball.
I am usually a planner and a plodder but this one emerged, if you'll pardon the analogy, like a cat coughs up a hairball.
He thought of maggoty hot-dogs, moldy pizza, pink lemonade with hairballs floating in it.