Hackles

[hak-uh l] /ˈhæk əl/

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.

4.
Angling.

5.
a comb for dressing flax or hemp.
verb (used with object), hackled, hackling.
6.
Angling. to equip with a hackle.
7.
to comb, as flax or hemp.
Idioms
8.
raise one’s hackles, to arouse one’s anger:
Such officiousness always raises my hackles.
[hak-uh l] /ˈhæk əl/
verb (used with object), hackled, hackling.
1.
to cut roughly; hack; mangle.
/ˈhækəlz/
plural noun
1.
the hairs on the back of the neck and the back of a dog, cat, etc, which rise when the animal is angry or afraid
2.
anger or resentment (esp in the phrases get one’s hackles up, make one’s hackles rise)
/ˈhækəl/
noun
1.
any of the long slender feathers on the necks of poultry and other birds
2.
(angling)

3.
a feathered ornament worn in the headdress of some British regiments
4.
a steel flax comb
verb (transitive)
5.
to comb (flax) using a hackle
n.

Old English hacele “cloak, mantle” (cf. Old High German hachul, Gothic hakuls “cloak;” Old Norse hekla “hooded frock”). Sense of “bird plumage” is first recorded early 15c., though this might be from unrelated Middle English hackle “flax comb” (see heckle (n.)) 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.
see: raise someone’s hackles