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Glite Dictionary
🗣️ To interrupt rudely 🪮 A fiber comb 🪮 To comb fibers
to heckle

to heckle

9.9
To comb flax or hemp fibers using a tool with sharp teeth before spinning
  • verb
  • /ˈhɛkəl/
  • Archaic
translation icon : peinar

Examples

  • A crow heckled from the top of an oak tree.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The workers will heckle the hemp to prepare it for spinning into rope.

  • To make the fabric soft and smooth, you first need to heckle the flax fibers.

  • After harvesting, they will heckle the plant material to ensure the fibers are separated.

Synonyms

to comb
vsto heckle
77 1.0

To remove knots and smooth hair with a comb

is a specific technical process for separating flax or hemp fibers
to hatchel
vsto heckle
  • Archaic
9.9

To comb flax or hemp to separate the long fibers for spinning

is identical in meaning but differs in written form
to hackle
vsto heckle
  • Specialized
9.5

To comb plant fibers like flax or hemp to make them straight and clean

is narrower, focusing on separating flax or hemp fibers only

Surface Forms

heckle infinitive
heckled past
heckled past participle
heckling present participle
heckles third person singular

Etymology

As a verb, heckle originally meant 'to comb' those fibers with a heckle, so to heckle the flax was to pull and clean its threads before making thread or cloth.