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:
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
What raises my hackle feathers is the insistence of some writers that a given drink must be made with exactly their specified proportions.
From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2013
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
The second shortened long hemp, that it might be more conveniently hackled and drawn.
From The Spinners by Eden Phillpotts
They met a young fellow, carrying a tea-cup in his hand, with hair that looked like hackled flax and with a grin that invited the confidence of all mankind.
From The Starbucks by Opie Percival Read
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
That he had successfully stormed the hackling shop and found the ogre friendly was, of course, good; but already, and long before he could retail the incident, it began to lose its rare savour.
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
Then he picked up one of the bright stricks, that lay beside the hackling board, and was just about to depart in triumph, when Mr. Baggs banged the door and revealed himself.
From The Spinners by Eden Phillpotts
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
