# hackle
## English
### 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.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈhækəl/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ˈhækəl/
* Rhymes: -ækəl

### Noun

hackle (countable and uncountable, plural hackles)
* An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp. [from 15th c.]
    Synonyms: heckle, hatchel
* (usually now in the plural) One of the long, narrow feathers on the neck of birds, most noticeable on the rooster. [from 15th c.]
* (fishing) A feather used to make a fishing lure or a fishing lure incorporating a feather. [from 17th c.]
* (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. [from 19th c.]
    When the dog got angry, his hackles rose and he growled.
** 1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Kindle edition, OUP Oxford, published 2016, page 101:Suppose it happened to be the case that the majority of individuals raised their hackles only when they were truly intending to go on for a very long time in the war of attrition. The obvious counterploy would evolve: individuals would give up immediately when an opponent raised his hackles.
* A type of jagged crack extending inwards from the broken surface of a fractured material.
* A plate with rows of pointed needles used to blend or straighten hair. [from 20th c.]
* A feather plume on some soldier's uniforms, especially the hat or helmet.
    Synonyms: panache, plume
* Any flimsy substance unspun, such as raw silk.
* (uncountable, slang) Pluck; courage or energy.
** 1949, Eric Philbrook Kelly, The Amazing Journey of David Ingram, page 11:"COME ALONG YE GRASS-COMBERS, SHOW some hackle," David Ingram, striding ahead, turned back and called.

#### Usage notes

In everyday speech, primarily used in phrase to raise someone's hackles (“to make one angry”), as in “It raises my hackles when you take that condescending tone”.

#### Translations
### Verb

hackle (third-person singular simple present hackles, present participle hackling, simple past and past participle hackled)
* To dress (flax or hemp) with a hackle; to prepare fibres of flax or hemp for spinning. [from 17th c.]
** 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 155: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.
* (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.
* (archaic, transitive) To tear asunder; to break into pieces.
** 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC:the other divisions of the kingdom being hackled and torn to pieces

#### Derived terms

* hackle up

#### Translations
### Further reading

* hackle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* hackle (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* Hackel, Kachel