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Glite Dictionary
😠 To react angrily 🪥 A stiff hair 🌆 To be full 🌵 To be covered 🐈 To stand up
to bristle

to bristle

3 4.4
To make small hairs on the skin stand up from fear or cold
  • verb
  • /ˈbrɪsəl/
translation icon : erizarse
  • Did you notice it?" He scowled, eyebrows bristling, then grinned, too excited to maintain his customary irascibility.

Examples

  • Two dogs with bristling backs were chained to the van's rear bumper.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Your hair bristles when you lay eyes on him.

    The Missing (2003)

  • Hold on a moment, I can see you starting to bristle around the neck

    Blog text (12)

  • The coarse hair on his neck bristled, and his legs were spread aggressively.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The fur along the ridge of his back bristled, and his muzzle was drawn back to expose his teeth.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • It's surprising I don't start screaming and stamping, my hair bristling up, my head sizzling.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The dog's fur bristled as it sensed danger approaching.

  • Her hair bristled in response to the sudden loud noise, revealing her fear.

  • When the teacher raised his voice, the students' hairs bristled with apprehension.

Synonyms

to uprise
vsto bristle
9.1

Make hair or fur stand up, often from fear

includes anger as a trigger and shows hairs lifting away from the skin

Phrasal Verbs

to bristle at
8 7.4

Show sudden anger or annoyance because of something someone says

to bristle up
7.9

Show sudden anger, often by becoming tense in the face or voice

Compounds

bristle brush
  • Specialized
1 3.7

A brush with short, stiff hairs for cleaning or painting rough surfaces

bristle fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A small fern with thin, often almost clear leaves that grows on trees or mossy banks

bristle grass
8.9

A grass that has curved flower spikes and long stiff hairs under each small flower

hare's-foot bristle fern
  • Specialized
9.9

A fern with soft, hairy creeping stems that look like a rabbit's foot

yellow bristle grass
8.4

A common weed grass with yellow, rough, stiff seed heads

How Raised

to uprise
9.1
to bristle
3 4.4

Surface Forms

bristle infinitive
bristled past
bristled past participle
bristling present participle
bristles third person singular

Etymology

The verb bristle also links to the idea of those short, stiff hairs standing up on a brush. So when hair or fur 'bristles' it means the hairs rise up away from the skin, like little bristles on a brush standing upright.