hatchel
/ˈhæt͡ʃəl/ noun, verb
Forms hatchels hatcheling hatchelling hatcheled hatchelled hetchel
- noun A comb used to separate flax fibers.
- verb (transitive) To separate (flax fibers) with a hatchel, or comb.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English hechele, of West Germanic origin, related to the root of hook. Doublet of hackle and heckle.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An instrument with long iron teeth set in a board, for cleansing flax or hemp from the tow, hards, or coarse part; a kind of large comb; --called also hackle and heckle.
- verb To draw through the teeth of a hatchel, as flax or hemp, so as to separate the coarse and refuse parts from the fine, fibrous parts.
- verb To tease; to worry; to torment. [Colloq.]
Etymology [OE. hechele, hekele; akin to D. hekel, G. hechel, Dan. hegle, Sw. häkla, and prob. to E. hook. See Hook, and cf. Hackle, Heckle.]
Etymology [OE. hechelen, hekelen; akin to D. hekelen, G. hecheln, Dan. hegle, Sw. häkla. See Hatchel, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hatchel”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details