hide nor hair

hide (n)or hair

No sign or sight of something or someone. I haven't seen hide nor hair of our neighbor in weeks—I hope he's OK! Can you go check outside for the cat? I haven't seen hide or hair of her in hours.

See also: hair, hide

*(neither) hide nor hair

Cliché no sign or indication of someone or something. (*Typically: find ~; see ~.) We could find neither hide nor hair of him. I don't know where he is. There has been no one here. We found neither hide nor hair.

See also: hair, hide, nor

hide nor hair

A trace; a vestige: haven't seen hide nor hair of them since the argument.

See also: hair, hide, nor

neither hide nor hair

Nothing; no part of something. The term, which dates from Chaucer’s time, alludes to the fact that the outside of an animal is made up of hide and hair, which therefore constitute its entirety. The negative version, nearly always meaning that something or someone cannot be seen or found, became common in the mid-nineteenth century. “I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the piece,” wrote Josiah G. Holland (The Bay-Path, 1857).

See also: hair, hide, neither, nor