definitions

hackle

1
[ hak-uh l ]
/ ˈhæk əl /
||
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hackle ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

verb (used with object), hack·led, hack·ling.

Angling. to equip with a hackle.
to comb, as flax or hemp.

RELATED WORDS

splinter, chop, nick, crack, hack, whack, cleave, cube, divide, mince, slash, bathe, scrub, soak, dredge, mop, flush, scrape, sweep, wash

Nearby words

hackery, hackette, hackie, hacking, hacking jacket, hackle, hackle fly, hackleback, hackles, hackly, hackman

Idioms

    raise one's hackles, to arouse one's anger: Such officiousness always raises my hackles.
Also hatchel, heckle (for defs 5, 7).

Origin of hackle

1
1400–50; late Middle English hakell; see heckle

Related forms

hack·ler, noun

Definition for hackle (2 of 2)

hackle

2
[ hak-uh l ]
/ ˈhæk əl /

verb (used with object), hack·led, hack·ling.

to cut roughly; hack; mangle.

Origin of hackle

2
1570–80; hack1 + -le; cognate with Middle Dutch hakkelen
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hackle

British Dictionary definitions for hackle

hackle

/ (ˈhækəl) /

noun

any of the long slender feathers on the necks of poultry and other birds
angling
  1. parts of an artificial fly made from hackle feathers, representing the legs and sometimes the wings of a real fly
  2. short for hackle fly
a feathered ornament worn in the headdress of some British regiments
a steel flax comb

verb (tr)

to comb (flax) using a hackle
See also hackles

Derived Forms

hackler, noun

Word Origin for hackle

C15: hakell, probably from Old English; variant of heckle; see hatchel
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