heckle

[hek-uhl]

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

to harass (a public speaker, performer, etc.) with impertinent questions, gibes, or the like; badger.
hackle¹(def 7).

noun

hackle¹(def 5).

Origin of heckle

1275–1325; Middle English hekelen, variant of hechelen to comb flax; akin to hackle¹, hatchel

Related formsheck·ler, noun

Synonyms for heckle

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1. bait, provoke, needle, hector, hound.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for heckler

militant, radical, rebel, dissident, heckler, agitator, revolutionist, paradise

Examples from the Web for heckler

Contemporary Examples of heckler

But then in 2011 he weaponized comedy, slicing and dicing his political rivals in the same way a comedian deals with a heckler.
Obama Will Weaponize Comedy at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Dean Obeidallah
May 2, 2014
Glaser says attacking the audience is off-limits, though she did call a heckler a “c--t” once.
What Women Comedians Want: Yael Kohen’s ‘We Killed’
Allison Yarrow
October 14, 2012
“You can hold your own rally,” the president told the heckler.
Daily Caller Reporter, Wilson’s ‘You Lie!’ & More Obama Hecklers (VIDEO)
Jake Heller
June 15, 2012
He got a huge reaction, which could not have discouraged him from taking on a heckler at a Meg Whitman event a few days later.
The One Who Got Away
Michael Daly
October 5, 2011
There were early reports that the heckler was a Howard Stern staffer.
Weiner’s Last Words
Howard Kurtz
June 16, 2011

Historical Examples of heckler

I was an uncommon grand hand at the bools mysel, and could throw the ba as far as Robbie King the heckler—ye mind, Tammie?
Merkland
Mrs. Oliphant
He was a stout man dressed in a drab jacket and had the appearance of a heckler.
An Old Coachman's Chatter with some Practical Remarks on Driving
Edward Corbett
In 1654 the spire was destroyed by lightning; the skilful architect Heckler was obliged to rebuild it sixty five feet high.
Historical Sketch of the Cathedral of Strasburg
Anonymous
He was a stout man, dressed in a dark jacket, and had the appearance of a heckler.
The Great North Road: London to York
Charles G. Harper
Then the bearded attorney, whose fame was secure as a heckler of witnesses, rose dramatically from his chair.
The Tempering
Charles Neville Buck

British Dictionary definitions for heckler

heckle

verb

to interrupt (a public speaker, performer, etc) by comments, questions, or taunts
Also: hackle, hatchel (tr) to comb (hemp or flax)

noun

an instrument for combing flax or hemp

Derived Formsheckler, noun

Word Origin for heckle

C15: Northern and East Anglian form of hackle

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 heckler

agent noun from heckle (v.); mid-15c., from late 13c., as a surname (Will. le Hekelere). Modern sense of "one from the audience who taunts a public speaker" is from 1885. Fem. form hekelstere is attested from c.1500.

heckle

"flax comb," c.1300, hechel, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *hecel or a cognate Germanic word (cf. Middle High German hechel, Middle Dutch hekel), from Proto-Germanic *hakila-, from PIE *keg- "hook, tooth" (see hook).

heckle

early 14c., "to comb (flax or hemp) with a heckle;" from heckle (n.) or from related Middle Dutch hekelen. Figurative meaning "to question severely in a bid to uncover weakness" is from late 18c. "Long applied in Scotland to the public questioning of parliamentary candidates" [OED]. Related: Heckled; heckling.