Hackle

Quick meaning: Hackle is a noun meaning An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.

Meaning

An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.

More Meanings

1. (usually now in the plural) One of the long, narrow feathers on the neck of birds, most noticeable on the rooster.
2. (fishing) A feather used to make a fishing lure or a fishing lure incorporating a feather.
3. A type of jagged crack extending inwards from the broken surface of a fractured material.
4. A plate with rows of pointed needles used to blend or straighten hair.
5. A feather plume on some soldier's uniforms, especially the hat or helmet.
6. Any flimsy substance unspun, such as raw silk.
7. (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.

Example Sentences

When the dog got angry, his hackles rose and he growled.

the other divisions of the kingdom being hackled and torn to pieces

"COME ALONG YE GRASS-COMBERS, SHOW some hackle," David Ingram, striding ahead, turned back and called.

Then, with a smile that seemed to have all the freshness of the matutinal hour in it, she bent again to her work of hackling flax.

Word Forms

• hackles
• hackling
• hackled

Synonyms for hackle

Depending on context, synonyms include heckle, hatchel, panache, plume.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include hatchel, heckle, pliers, grizzle, dun, flaxcomb.

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