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raise one's hackles

 - 3 dictionary results

hack⋅le

1  [hak-uhl] noun, verb, -led, -ling.
Use raise one's hackles in a Sentence
–noun
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,
a. the erectile hair on the back of an animal's neck: At the sound of footsteps, the dog raised her hackles.
b. anger, esp. when aroused in a challenging or challenged manner: with one's hackles up.
4. Angling.
a. the legs of an artificial fly made with feathers from the neck or saddle of a rooster or other such bird.
b. hackle fly.
5. a comb for dressing flax or hemp.
–verb (used with object)
6. Angling. to equip with a hackle.
7. to comb, as flax or hemp.
—Idiom
8. raise one's hackles, to arouse one's anger: Such officiousness always raises my hackles.
Also, hatchel, heckle (for defs. 5, 7).

Origin:
1400–50; late ME hakell; see heckle

Related forms:
hackler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To raise one's hackles
Word Origin & History

hackle 
O.E. hacele "cloak, mantle" (cf. O.H.G. hachul, Goth. hakuls "cloak;" O.N. hekla "hooded frock"). Sense of "bird plumage" is first recorded 1496, though this may be from unrelated M.E. hackle "flax comb" (see heckle) on supposed resemblance of comb to ruffled feathers. Metaphoric extension found in raise one's hackles (as a cock does when angry) is first recorded 1881.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

raise one's hackles

Make one very angry, as in That really raised my hackles when he pitched straight at the batter's head. Hackles are the hairs on the back of an animal's neck, which stick up when the animal feels fearful or angry. [Late 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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