hackle
1 Americannoun
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one of the long, slender feathers on the neck or saddle of certain birds, as the domestic rooster, much used in making artificial flies for anglers.
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the neck plumage of a male bird, as the domestic rooster.
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hackles,
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the erectile hair on the back of an animal's neck.
At the sound of footsteps, the dog raised her hackles.
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anger, especially when aroused in a challenging or challenged manner.
with one's hackles up.
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Angling.
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the legs of an artificial fly made with feathers from the neck or saddle of a rooster or other such bird.
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a comb for dressing flax or hemp.
verb (used with object)
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Angling. to equip with a hackle.
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to comb, as flax or hemp.
idioms
verb (used with object)
noun
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any of the long slender feathers on the necks of poultry and other birds
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angling
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parts of an artificial fly made from hackle feathers, representing the legs and sometimes the wings of a real fly
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short for hackle fly
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a feathered ornament worn in the headdress of some British regiments
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a steel flax comb
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hackle1
First recorded in 1450–1400; late Middle English hakel(e), hakle “animal's skin; bird's plumage”; see also heckle
Origin of hackle2
First recorded in 1560–70; hack 1 + -le; cognate with Middle Dutch hakkelen
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She had saluted incorrectly, and I think she was wearing the wrong hackle.
From Slate ● Nov. 19, 2020
The fly he used, and still relies on almost exclusively, is a brown pheasant-tail-and-partridge soft hackle.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 12, 2016
I can read for hours about bugs and knots and how to trick a fish with hair and hackle, but honestly, those are just the perks.
From New York Times ● Jul. 31, 2014
A package of the most popular fly tying hackle for hair extensions, a black and white striped feather called grizzly saddle, would normally retail anywhere from $40 to $60.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2011
Every hackle on his body rose, and he knew that very soon she would, like all of her sisters before her, put to him the death-knell question “Where you been?”
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
The flax has since been broken, scutched, hackled, spun, and woven to create the fabric linen.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2021
Her Shirley is singular not in talent here but in the total unpredictability of her reactions – whether pushing out or drawing in – nevertheless grounded in guarded, hackled emotional need.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 3, 2020
Get her so hackled she’d make the wrong change for stamps.
From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
When sufficiently beaten it is dried, and needs no other preparation, until it is hackled and spun into yarn for weaving.
Some was in the rough; the dressed line had already been hackled and waited in bundles of long hemp composed of wisps, or 'stricks' like horses' tails.
From The Spinners by Eden Phillpotts
Rams QB Matthew Stafford’s wife Kelly apologized for throwing a pretzel at a hackling 49ers fan during Monday’s loss.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 19, 2021
“What in Frith’s name makes a noise like that?” said Bigwig, his great fur cap hackling between his ears.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
"Well, meantime, till the world's put right by your friends, you get on with your hackling, my old bird, else you'll have the spreaders grumbling," answered Mr. Best.
From The Spinners by Eden Phillpotts
You're well and hard, and can do your work as it should be done; but you must remember you've got no resources outside your hackling shop.
From The Spinners by Eden Phillpotts
I should have softened it first by a hackling process, as we used to hackle the hemp in Kentucky; but I did not.
From Europe Revised by Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
