hackle

IPA: hˈækʌɫ

An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.
(usually now in the plural) One of the long, narrow feathers on the neck of birds, most noticeable on the rooster.
(fishing) A feather used to make a fishing lure or a fishing lure incorporating a feather.
(usually now in the plural) By extension (because the hackles of a rooster are lifted when it is angry), the hair on the nape of the neck in dogs and other animals; also used figuratively for humans.
A type of jagged crack extending inwards from the broken surface of a fractured material.
A plate with rows of pointed needles used to blend or straighten hair.
A feather plume on some soldier's uniforms, especially the hat or helmet.
Any flimsy substance unspun, such as raw silk.

To dress (flax or hemp) with a hackle; to prepare fibres of flax or hemp for spinning.
(transitive) To separate, as the coarse part of flax or hemp from the fine, by drawing it through the teeth of a hackle or hatchel.
(archaic, transitive) To tear asunder; to break into pieces.

Examples of "hackle" in Sentences

He looked for a place to tie it—armor? hackle? horn?
There too is the hackle which is the old device of the De Brays.
The hen hackle is not tied on but attached to the collar by a shrink process.
Making a generalized statement, the soft hackle is the most effective fly I have ever used in rivers for trout.
After scutching, the settler would pull the flax through a board of sharp iron nails called a hackle or hatchel (see accompanying photograph) in order to untangle and smooth the threads.
After the bark had become loosened, it was taken to a "break" which broke up the stems so that the bark, or fiber could be easily separated from the broken stems by drawing it repeatedly through the "hackle" -- a board with a great number of sharp spikes driven through it.