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Glite Dictionary
🐕 Raised neck hairs 🧵 To comb fibers 😾 To raise hairs 🪶 A neck feather
hackle

hackle

8.6
Hairs along an animal's neck that stand up when it is scared or angry
  • noun
  • /ˈhækəl/
translation icon : pelo de la nuca
  • The cat's hackle bristled as it spotted a threatening stranger.
  • hackles rise

Examples

  • Hackles rise.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The reason for this seems clear: the multitudinous errors in the edition itself raised so many hackles that barely a hackle was left for the introductory remarks.

    Academic text (1996)

  • When the dog sensed danger, the hackle on its neck stood up.

  • As the storm approached, the horse's hackle rose, showing it was frightened.

Synonyms

hackles
vshackle
1 7.3

Hairs along the back of an animal's neck that stand up when it is angry or frightened

has identical meaning but is the singular form

Compounds

saddle hackle
  • Specialized
9.9

A long narrow feather from a chicken's back used for making fishing flies or decoration

Surface Forms

hackle singular
hackles plural

Etymology

Hackle also means the hairs along an animal's neck that stand up when it is angry or afraid, so imagine a scared cat with its 'hackles' raised. That's why when someone's 'hackles' rise you know they feel threatened or angry.