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hackle

   Also found in: Medical, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.09 sec.
hack·le 1  (hkl)
n.
1. Any of the long, slender, often glossy feathers on the neck of a bird, especially a male domestic fowl.
2. hackles The erectile hairs along the back of the neck of an animal, especially of a dog.
3.
a. A tuft of cock feathers trimming an artificial fishing fly.
b. A hackle fly.
tr.v. hack·led, hack·ling, hack·les
To trim (an artificial fishing fly) with a hackle.
Idiom:
get (one's) hackles up
To be extremely insulted or irritated.

[Middle English hakell, cloak, skin, plumage, possibly from Old English hacele, cloak, mantle.]

hack·le 2  (hkl)
v. hack·led, hack·ling, hack·les
v.tr.
To chop roughly; mangle by hacking.
v.intr.
To hack.

[Frequentative of hack.]
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.hackle - long slender feather on the necks of e.g. turkeys and pheasants
feather, plumage, plume - the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds
saddle feather, saddle hackle - a long narrow feather on the back (saddle) of a domestic fowl
Verb1.hackle - comb with a heckle; "heckle hemp or flax"
comb - straighten with a comb; "comb your hair"


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
off with you, old Hector, or I'll hackle your hide with my ramrod when I get ye.
There too is the hackle which is the old device of the De Brays.
The lightning spattered the sky as a thrown egg spattered a barn door, but the light was pale blue, not yellow; and looking through my slit bamboo blinds, I could see the great dog standing, not sleeping, in the veranda, the hackles alift on her back, and her feet planted as tensely as the drawn wire rope of a suspension bridge.
 
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