This week’s theme
Words made with animal parts

This week’s words
rostrum
carapace
hackle
pinnacle
hightail

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(HAK-uhl)

MEANING:

noun:	1. Hairs or feathers on the neck or back of some animals that stand up when the animal is agitated.
	2. Temper; anger.
	3. A comb for dressing fiber.
verb tr.:	To comb flax, hemp, or other fibers with a hackle.

ETYMOLOGY:

Either a variant of heckle, from Middle English hechelen (to comb flax) or from Old English hacele (coat, cloak). Earliest documented use: 900.

USAGE:

“He’d made her hackles rise faster than a bee’s wings could flap. The gall of him saying he would wait for her to propose to him was shocking.”
Amelia Grey; The Duke In My Bed; St. Martin’s; 2014.

See more usage examples of hackle in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: