bristle

[bris-uh l]

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noun

one of the short, stiff, coarse hairs of certain animals, especially hogs, used extensively in making brushes.

anything resembling these hairs.

verb (used without object), bris·tled, bris·tling.

to stand or rise stiffly, like bristles.

to erect the bristles, as an irritated animal (often followed by up): The hog bristled up.

to become rigid with anger or irritation: The man bristled when I asked him to move.

to be thickly set or filled with something suggestive of bristles: The plain bristled with bayonets. The project bristled with difficulties.

to be visibly roused or stirred (usually followed by up).

verb (used with object), bris·tled, bris·tling.

to erect like bristles: The rooster bristled his crest.

to furnish with a bristle or bristles.

to make bristly.

Origin of bristle

before 1000; Middle English bristel, equivalent to brist (Old English byrst bristle, cognate with German Borste, Old Norse burst) + -el diminutive suffix

Related formsbris·tle·less, adjectivebris·tle·like, adjectivenon·bris·tled, adjectiveun·bris·tled, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bristle

fume, seethe, bridle, fiber, point, spine, thorn, barb, feeler, whisker, prickle, stubble, vibrissa, quill, ruffle, spit, rage, flare, swell, rise

Examples from the Web for bristle

Contemporary Examples of bristle

Americans tend to bristle even at self-censorship; we are reluctant to declare that we simply are not going to look at something.
From ISIS Videos to JLaw Nudes, When Is Looking Abetting Evil?
Michael Daly
September 3, 2014
And they bristle too at the notion that they had some kind of personal enmity toward the president.
These Clinton Haters Can’t Quit the Crazy
David Freedlander
May 22, 2014
Of course there are those who bristle at such neologisms—the scolds, the conservative prescriptivists, the SNOOTs.
The Oxford English Dictionary: The Original Crowdsourcer
Josh Dzieza
April 29, 2013
In fact, so complete was his recovery, he later allowed himself to bristle at comparisons with Spitzer.
Death of the Sex Scandal
Louise Roug Bokkenheuser
September 29, 2010
Republicans, meanwhile, bristle with anger as they attempt to defend against the flood of new information.
Busting the Torture Myths
Scott Horton
April 27, 2009

Historical Examples of bristle

Pete bristled—as much as a fat man could bristle on so hot a day.
Good Indian
B. M. Bower
How was he to know that this thing that sniffed was a thing at which to bristle?
White Fang
Jack London
The whole place, behind the fence, appeared to bristle and resound.
Pandora
Henry James
The mane on his back began to bristle, and I knew that I had but a small second in which to act.
Wood Folk at School
William J. Long
Hill began to bristle and to look around in search of the one who had spoken.
Owen Clancy's Happy Trail
Burt L. Standish

British Dictionary definitions for bristle

bristle

noun

any short stiff hair of an animal or plant

something resembling these hairtoothbrush bristle

verb

(when intr , often foll by up) to stand up or cause to stand up like bristlesthe angry cat's fur bristled

(intr sometimes foll by up) to show anger, indignation, etcshe bristled at the suggestion

(intr) to be thickly covered or setthe target bristled with arrows

(intr) to be in a state of agitation or movementthe office was bristling with activity

(tr) to provide with a bristle or bristles

Derived Formsbristly, adjective

Word Origin for bristle

C13 bristil, brustel, from earlier brust, from Old English byrst; related to Old Norse burst, Old High German borst

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bristle

Old English byrst "bristle," with metathesis of -r-, from Proto-Germanic *bursti- (cf. Middle Dutch borstel, German borste), from PIE *bhrsti- from root *bhars- "point, bristle" (cf. Sanskrit bhrstih "point, spike"). With -el, diminutive suffix.

c.1200 (implied in past participle adjective bristled) "set or covered with bristles," from bristle (n.). Meaning "become angry or excited" is 1540s, from the way animals show fight. Related: Bristling.