Advertisement
Advertisement
hackle
1[ hak-uhl ]
noun
- 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.
- the neck plumage of a male bird, as the domestic rooster.
- hackles,
- the erectile hair on the back of an animal's neck:
At the sound of footsteps, the dog raised her hackles.
- anger, especially when aroused in a challenging or challenged manner:
with one's hackles up.
- Angling.
- the legs of an artificial fly made with feathers from the neck or saddle of a rooster or other such bird.
- a comb for dressing flax or hemp.
verb (used with object)
- Angling. to equip with a hackle.
- to comb, as flax or hemp.
hackle
/ ˈhækəl /
noun
- any of the long slender feathers on the necks of poultry and other birds
- angling
- parts of an artificial fly made from hackle feathers, representing the legs and sometimes the wings of a real fly
- short for hackle fly
- a feathered ornament worn in the headdress of some British regiments
- a steel flax comb
verb
- to comb (flax) using a hackle
Derived Forms
- ˈhackler, noun
Other Words From
- hackler noun
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of hackle1
Idioms and Phrases
- raise one's hackles, to arouse one's anger:
Such officiousness always raises my hackles.
Example Sentences
The idea of legislation that affects only Mountain Valley Pipeline is raising hackles, but anything written broadly enough to include other projects might garner resistance from companies satisfied with their local appellate courts.
Robin and I just had to plow through and keep our hackles up.
The White Palmer—dubbed with white peacock's harl, and a black hackle over it.
The Black Palmer—dubbed with black copper coloured peacock's harl, and a black cock's hackle over that, wings, blackbird.
The Harry Longlegs—dubbed with darkish brown hair, and a brown hackle over it, head rather large.
White Moth—strands from an Ostrich, wings from a white Pigeon, a white hackle for legs, and a black head.
The Cad bait, with a little hackle round the top of the shank of the hook, kills well.
Advertisement
Related Words
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.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse