hackle

UK: /ˈhæk^əl/ US: /ˈhækəl/ ,(hak′əl)

Inflections of 'hackle' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

hackles

v 3rd person singular

hackling

v pres p

hackled

v past

hackled

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

hack•le¹ /ˈhækəl/   n., v., -led, -ling. 
n. [countable]

1. Birds the neck feathers of a male bird, as the domestic rooster.
2. hackles, [plural]
   • Zoology hairs on the back of an animal's neck that can be made to stand up straight.

Idioms

3. raise one's hackles, to arouse one's anger.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

hack•le¹  (hak′əl), n., v., -led, -ling. 
n. 

1. one of the long, slender feathers on the neck or saddle of certain birds, as the domestic rooster, much used in making artificial flies for anglers.
2. the neck plumage of a male bird, as the domestic rooster.
3. hackles:
   • Zoology the erectile hair on the back of an animal's neck:
     At the sound of footsteps, the dog raised her hackles.
   • anger, esp. when aroused in a challenging or challenged manner:
     with one's hackles up.
4. [Angling.]
   • the legs of an artificial fly made with feathers from the neck or saddle of a rooster or other such bird. See diag. under fly ².
   • See hackle fly. 
5. a comb for dressing flax or hemp.
6. Idioms raise one's hackles, to arouse one's anger:
   Such officiousness always raises my hackles.

v.t. 

7. [Angling.] to equip with a hackle.
8. to comb, as flax or hemp.

Also, hatchel, heckle (for defs. 5, 8).

• 1400–50; late Middle English hakell; see heckle

hack′ler, n. 

hack•le²  (hak′əl), v.t., -led, -ling. 

1. to cut roughly;
   hack;
   mangle.

• 1570–80; hack¹ + -le; cognate with Middle Dutch hakkelen

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

hackle / ˈhæk^əl/ noun

1. any of the long slender feathers on the necks of poultry and other birds
2. parts of an artificial fly made from hackle feathers, representing the legs and sometimes the wings of a real fly
3. a feathered ornament worn in the headdress of some British regiments
4. a steel flax comb

verb (transitive)

1. to comb (flax) using a hackle

Etymology: 15th Century: hakell, probably from Old English; variant of heckle; see hatchel