The following sentence I've been reading in my book. A lady told her servant a fearful thing and the author says:
The man pulled the few hairs on his upper lip.
I've found the meaning here.
But the question is have you heard this before? I didn't. Have you used it before? I didn't. The answer isn't satisfactory, so i'm hoping now to get a better answer.
Thanks
Best Answer
I have heard this before but cannot find a reference for it. It is a very old-fashioned expression so it is weird that in the definition you found such a term as 'freaked out'.
Maybe I don't know what freaking out is, but the meaning "pulling hairs on his upper lip" conveys to me is of the gardener made very thoughtful and perhaps worried and, as a kind of nervous gesture, pulling at those hairs. A similar expression is 'tugged at his moustache/mustache' which Google ngrams tells me was much more popular in books in the early 20th century than it is now.