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. make one's hackles rise cause one to be angry or indignant.
[ ME hechele, hakele, prob. f. OE f. WG ]