of troy said :M-W doesn't have dane meaning anything remotely like how i used it...
is a " a hares-breath? (vs a hairs breadth? some phrase i have totally mangled?)

of Troy, sweetie, try deign in the M-W or the SOED even. It's one of those pesky thingamees that we all stumble over now and then.
I think "hair's breadth" is the phrase you're looking for. Breadth in this case meaning the width, side to side of a hair. The phrase means something very close i.e. "We missed death by a hair's breadth."
That help? I'm pretty good at old timey sayings -- they were common currency in my long ago salad days!
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