HATCHEL

noun to tease; to worry; to torment.

2. hatchel ·noun to draw through the teeth of a hatchel, as flax or hemp, so as to separate the coarse and refuse parts from the fine, fibrous parts.

3. hatchel ·noun an instrument with long iron teeth set in a board, for cleansing flax or hemp from the tow, hards, or coarse part; a kind of large comb;

— called also hackle and heckle.