😠 Feeling angry 🐈 Animal neck hairs

hackles

1 7.3

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

noun
/ˈhækəlz/

: erizamiento

The cat's hackles rose when it spotted a strange dog approaching its territory.
hackles rise
hackles raised
hackles bristle

Suddenly the hackles on the coyotes were raised, the eagles flew and the Ravens disappeared.

Examples

From time to time, she sat up, alert, hackles raised, her milky eyes opaque pools.

Fiction book (1991)
Casimir's hackles rose in excitement, and saliva wet his black jowls.

Fiction book (1992)
Ears went flat; hackles came up.

Fiction book (1994)
The wolves' hackles rise in fear.

Fiction book (1996)
Animals raise their hackles and growl at stuff that makes them feel afraid or threatened.

Blog text (15)
His tail stiffened; his hackles rose.

Fiction book (1990)
All the witches turn, their hackles bristling.

Fiction book (1999)
Lukas led the hunt, his hackles raised in excited anticipation.

Fiction book (1992)
A grating roar filled the air, the sort of sound that makes teeth lock together and hackles rise.

Fiction book (1992)
Frostfur's hackles rose.

Fiction book (1994)

Synonyms

hackle

vshackles

8.6

Hairs along an animal's neck that stand up when it is scared or angry

is the plural written form referring to the neck hairs that stand up

Antonyms

calmness

9 2.7

A state without strong feelings or worry in your mind

Idioms

to raise hackles

1 7.9

To make someone angry or upset

Surface Forms

hackle singular

hackles plural

Morphology

hackles = hackle (transparent) = hackle + s

Simple plural formation from the noun 'hackle'; the meaning refers directly to the literal hairs.

Etymology

Hackles comes from the name for the neck feathers or hairs that birds and animals make 'stand up' when they are angry or scared, like a rooster puffing up its neck. So think of an animal with its neck hair rising to remember the literal meaning.