not turn a hair

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not turn a hair

To show no outward emotion when something bad happens or is announced; to maintain a perfectly calm demeanor. I thought he'd be devastated after losing the race, but he didn't turn a hair. You have to give Jane credit. She didn't turn a hair when the customer started shouting in her face. The woman, not turning a hair, paid nearly $30 grand in cash for the diamond-encrusted necklace.

See also: hair, not, turn

turn a hair, not

Not become afraid or upset, remain calm, as in She didn't turn a hair during the bank robbery. This term, also put as without turning a hair, comes from horse racing. After a race, a horse often has roughened, outward-turned hair. Its figurative use, nearly always in the negative, dates from the late 1800s.

not turn a hair

If you do not turn a hair in an unpleasant or difficult situation, you do not show any sign of being afraid or anxious. She started off by accusing him of blackmail but he didn't turn a hair. Tiane dealt with the situation without turning a hair.

See also: hair, not, turn

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

not turn a hair

remain apparently unmoved or unaffected.

See also: hair, not, turn

not turn a ˈhair

not show strong emotion like fear, surprise or excitement, when others expect you to: He didn’t turn a hair when the judge gave him a 20-year prison sentence.

See also: hair, not, turn

turning a hair, not/without

Showing no sign of agitation or distress; quite unruffled and unafraid. This expression comes from horse-racing, where a horse that is extremely sweaty shows it in the roughening of its hair. It was transferred, but only in the negative, to human sangfroid in the late nineteenth century. Still referring to its origin, Richard D. Blackmore wrote (Dariel, 1897), “She never turned a hair—as the sporting people say.”