Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Hackle

Hac′kle (hăk′k'l), n. [See Heckle, and cf. Hatchel.]

1. A comb for dressing flax, raw silk, etc.; a hatchel.

2. Any flimsy substance unspun, as raw silk.

3. One of the peculiar, long, narrow feathers on the neck of fowls, most noticeable on the cock, — often used in making artificial flies; hence, any feather so used.

4. An artificial fly for angling, made of feathers.

Hac′kle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hackled (-k'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Hackling (-klĭng).] 1. To separate, as the coarse part of flax or hemp from the fine, by drawing it through the teeth of a hackle or hatchel.

2. To tear asunder; to break in pieces.

The other divisions of the kingdom being hackled and torn to pieces. Burke.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.