1. Annoyingly complicated. "DWIM is incredibly hairy."
2. Incomprehensible. "DWIM is incredibly hairy."
3. Of people, high-powered, authoritative, rare, expert,
and/or incomprehensible. Hard to explain except in context:
"He knows this hairy lawyer who says there's nothing to worry
about." See also hirsute.
The adjective "long-haired" is well-attested to have been in
slang use among scientists and engineers during the early
1950s; it was equivalent to modern "hairy" and was very likely
ancestral to the hackish use. In fact the noun "long-hair"
was at the time used to describe a hairy person. Both senses
probably passed out of use when long hair was adopted as a
signature trait by the 1960s counterculture, leaving hackish
"hairy" as a sort of stunted mutant relic.
4. <topology> hairy ball.
[Jargon File]
(2001-03-29)
Nearby terms:
hack value « ha ha only serious « hair « hairy » hairy ball » HAKMEM » hakspek
