Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: heckle, hatchel
Antonyms: none provided
noun
One of the long, narrow feathers on the neck of birds, most noticeable on the rooster.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, in-plural, uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A feather used to make a fishing lure or a fishing lure incorporating a feather.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: fishing, hobbies, lifestyle
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
By extension (because the hackles of a rooster are lifted when it is angry), the hair on the nape of the neck in dogs and other animals; also used figuratively for humans.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, in-plural, uncountable, usually
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A type of jagged crack extending inwards from the broken surface of a fractured material.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A plate with rows of pointed needles used to blend or straighten hair.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A feather plume on some soldier's uniforms, especially the hat or helmet.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: panache, plume
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any flimsy substance unspun, such as raw silk.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Pluck; courage or energy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To dress (flax or hemp) with a hackle; to prepare fibres of flax or hemp for spinning.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To separate, as the coarse part of flax or hemp from the fine, by drawing it through the teeth of a hackle or hatchel.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To tear asunder; to break into pieces.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
long slender feather on the necks of e.g. turkeys and pheasants
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: feather, plume, plumage
Narrower terms: saddle hackle, saddle feather
verb
comb with a heckle
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: heckle, hatchel
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: comb
History
From Middle English hakle (compare the compound meshakele), from Old English hæcla, hacele, from Proto-Germanic *hakulǭ, equivalent to hack + -le. Cognate with Dutch hekel, German Hechel.
Across languages
48 source translations are retained for this English entry.
