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).