[hach-uh
l] 
noun, verb, -eled, -el⋅ing or (especially British) -elled, -el⋅ling. [hak-uhl] noun, verb, -led, -ling.| 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,
|
| 4. | Angling.
|
| 5. | a comb for dressing flax or hemp. |
| 6. | Angling. to equip with a hackle. |
| 7. | to comb, as flax or hemp. |
| 8. | raise one's hackles, to arouse one's anger: Such officiousness always raises my hackles. |
| hatch·el (hāch'əl) n. A comb for separating flax fibers. tr.v. hatch·eled also hatch·elled, hatch·el·ing also hatch·el·ling, hatch·els also hatch·els To separate (flax fibers) with a hatchel. [Middle English hechel, possibly from Old English *hecel; akin to Middle Dutch hekel; see heckle.] |