hackle
/ˈhækəl/ noun, verb
Forms hackles hackling hackled
- noun An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.
- noun (usually now in the plural) One of the long, narrow feathers on the neck of birds, most noticeable on the rooster.
- noun (fishing) A feather used to make a fishing lure or a fishing lure incorporating a feather.
- noun (usually now in the plural) By extension (because the hackles of a rooster are lifted when it is angry), the hair on the nape of the neck in dogs and other animals; also used figuratively for humans. “When the dog got angry, his hackles rose and he growled.”
- noun A type of jagged crack extending inwards from the broken surface of a fractured material.
- noun A plate with rows of pointed needles used to blend or straighten hair.
- noun A feather plume on some soldier's uniforms, especially the hat or helmet.
- noun Any flimsy substance unspun, such as raw silk.
- verb To dress (flax or hemp) with a hackle; to prepare fibres of flax or hemp for spinning.
- verb (transitive) To separate, as the coarse part of flax or hemp from the fine, by drawing it through the teeth of a hackle or hatchel.
- verb (archaic, transitive) To tear asunder; to break into pieces.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English hakle (compare the compound meshakele), from Old English hæcla, hacele, from Proto-Germanic *hakulǭ, equivalent to hack + -le. Cognate with Dutch hekel, German Hechel.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A comb for dressing flax, raw silk, etc.; a hatchel.
- noun Any flimsy substance unspun, as raw silk.
- verb To separate, as the coarse part of flax or hemp from the fine, by drawing it through the teeth of a hackle or hatchel.
- verb To tear asunder; to break in pieces.
Etymology [See Heckle, and cf. Hatchel.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hackle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details