hackle
Syllables: hack·le/ˈhækəl/
hackle noun: an instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.
Noun
hackle (countable and uncountable, plural hackles)
- An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.
- One of the long, narrow feathers on the neck of birds, most noticeable on the rooster.
- A feather used to make a fishing lure or a fishing lure incorporating a feather.
- 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.
- When the dog got angry, his hackles rose and he growled.
- 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.1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Kindle edition, OUP Oxford, published 2016, page 101
- 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.
- A feather plume on some soldier's uniforms, especially the hat or helmet.
- Any flimsy substance unspun, such as raw silk.
- Pluck; courage or energy.
- "COME ALONG YE GRASS-COMBERS, SHOW some hackle," David Ingram, striding ahead, turned back and called.1949, Eric Philbrook Kelly, The Amazing Journey of David Ingram, page 11
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.
- 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.1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 155
- To separate, as the coarse part of flax or hemp from the fine, by drawing it through the teeth of a hackle or hatchel.
- To tear asunder; to break into pieces.
- the other divisions of the kingdom being hackled and torn to pieces1790 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
hackle meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Kannada and Arabic
hackle in Tamil
- நீண்ட கழுத்திறகுகள், நீண்ட கழுத்து இறகு, நீண்ட கழுத்துமயிர்
hackle in Urdu
- کلغی, کلغی لگانا
hackle in Kannada
- ಹಿಕ್ಕಣಿಕೆ, ಸಿಕ್ಕಟಿಗೆ ಉಕ್ಕಿನ ಹಿಕ್ಕು, ಉಕ್ಕಿನ ಹಣಿಗೆ, ಕೊರಳ ಗರಿ
hackle in Arabic
- feather on the neck of bird
- قَوْزَعَة qawzaʕa
More languagesFewer languages
- hackle in Persian
- فلخمه falaxme
Examples of hackle in a sentence
- Every time I hear him talk, he just raises my hackles.
- View the film now and it’s not hard to see what raised the hackles of such groups.
- A scutching machine pulls out the linen fibers, which are then hackled or carded and combed.
Synonyms of hackle
Forms of hackle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hackles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hackles |
| present participle | hackling |
| past participle | hackled |
| past | hackled |
Origin of hackle
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.
Words formed from hackle
Words that rhyme with hackle
Questions about hackle
- What does hackle mean?
- Hackle means an instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.
- What is hackle in Tamil?
- Hackle in Tamil is நீண்ட கழுத்திறகுகள், நீண்ட கழுத்து இறகு, நீண்ட கழுத்துமயிர். See Hackle meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is hackle?
- Hackle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce hackle?
- Hackle is pronounced /ˈhækəl/.
- What is the plural of hackle?
- The plural of hackle is hackles.
Words near hackle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hackle (page history and authors); hackle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hackle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); hackle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hackle.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-hackle.wav.
Cite this entry: “hackle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hackle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.