English▸ noun
1 (hackles) erectile hairs along an animal's back, which rise when it is angry or alarmed:
the dog continued to growl, its hackles raised.
2 a long, narrow feather on the neck or saddle of a domestic cock or other bird.
▪ Fishing a feather wound around a fishing fly so that its filaments are splayed out.
▪ [mass noun] fly-fishing feathers collectively:
raising birds for hackle.
▪ a bunch of feathers in a military headdress, for example of a regiment of fusiliers or the Black Watch.
▸ verb [with object] dress or comb (flax) with a hackle:
taking each section separately the student should lightly hackle the extreme ends.