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 soft hackle makes it a wet fly; you fish it beneath the surface.
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
In a time full of thunder and rain, when hurricanes hackled the tree, He slipt through the sludge of a drain, and swam a fierce fork of the sea.
From The Poems of Henry Kendall With Biographical Note by Bertram Stevens by Henry Kendall
Elnora's hair is bright and wavy, but yours is silky as hackled flax.
From A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
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
Keep him out of the hackling shop, then.
From The Spinners by Eden Phillpotts
The separation between the fibre and the wood appears to have been as thorough and effectual as at this day by the process of rotting and hackling.
From Prehistoric Textile Fabrics Of The United States, Derived From Impressions On Pottery Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1881-82, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1884, pages 393-425 by William Henry Holmes
The hackling was accomplished by means of the simplest devices, such as pounding with hammers or sticks.
From Prehistoric Textile Art of Eastern United States Thirteenth Annual Report of the Beaurau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1891-1892, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1896 pages 3-46 by William Henry Holmes
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.
