n. & v.
--n.
1. a long feather or series of feathers on the neck or saddle of a domestic cock and other birds.
2 Fishing an artificial fly dressed with a hackle.
3 a feather in a Highland soldier's bonnet.
4 (in pl.) the erectile hairs along the back of a dog, which rise when it is angry or alarmed.
5 a steel comb for dressing flax.
--v.tr. dress or comb with a hackle.
Phrases and idioms:
make one's hackles rise cause one to be angry or indignant.
Etymology: ME hechele, hakele, prob. f. OE f. WG