hackle

1
[ hak-uh l ]
/ ˈhæk əl /

noun

verb (used with object), hack·led, hack·ling.

Angling. to equip with a hackle.
to comb, as flax or hemp.

Idioms for hackle

    raise one's hackles, to arouse one's anger: Such officiousness always raises my hackles.
Also hatchel, heckle (for defs 5, 7).

Origin of hackle

1
1400–50; late Middle English hakell; see heckle

OTHER WORDS FROM hackle

hack·ler, noun

Words nearby hackle

hackery, hackette, hackie, hacking, hacking jacket, hackle, hackle fly, hackleback, hackles, hackly, hackman

Example sentences from the Web for hackler

  • "Better where you are," said Hackler, with what sounded very much like a sigh.

    Fast as the Wind |Nat Gould

  • Under Hackler I was treated more like a brute than a human being.

    The Underground Railroad |William Still

  • "Let her know her little boy is going out in good company," said Hackler.

    Fast as the Wind |Nat Gould

  • Hackler says so, the boatman says so; he could not live on the moor.

    Fast as the Wind |Nat Gould

British Dictionary definitions for hackler

hackle
/ (ˈhækəl) /

noun

any of the long slender feathers on the necks of poultry and other birds
angling
  1. parts of an artificial fly made from hackle feathers, representing the legs and sometimes the wings of a real fly
  2. short for hackle fly
a feathered ornament worn in the headdress of some British regiments
a steel flax comb

verb (tr)

to comb (flax) using a hackle
See also hackles

Derived forms of hackle

hackler, noun

Word Origin for hackle

C15: hakell, probably from Old English; variant of heckle; see hatchel