different between hackle vs cackle

English

Etymology

From Middle English hakle (compare the compound meshakele), from Old English hæcla, hacele, from Proto-Germanic *hakul?, equivalent to hack +? -le. Cognate with Dutch hekel, German Hechel.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?hæk?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?hæk?l/
• Rhymes: -æk?l

Noun

hackle (plural hackles)

1. An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: heckle, hatchel

2. (usually now in the plural) One of the long, narrow feathers on the neck of birds, most noticeable on the rooster. [from 15th c.]
3. (fishing) A feather used to make a fishing lure or a fishing lure incorporating a feather. [from 17th c.]
4. (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. [from 19th c.]
5. A type of jagged crack extending inwards from the broken surface of a fractured material.
6. A plate with rows of pointed needles used to blend or straighten hair. [from 20th c.]
7. A feather plume on some soldier's uniforms, especially the hat or helmet.

   Synonyms: panache, plume

8. Any flimsy substance unspun, such as raw silk.

Usage notes

In everyday speech, primarily used in phrase to raise someone's hackles (“to make one angry”), as in “It raises my hackles when you take that condescending tone.”.

Translations

Verb

hackle (third-person singular simple present hackles, present participle hackling, simple past and past participle hackled)

1. To dress (flax or hemp) with a hackle; to prepare fibres of flax or hemp for spinning. [from 17th c.]
   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 155:

     Then, with a smile that seemed to have all the freshness of the matutinal hour in it, she bent again to her work of hackling flax.

2. (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.
3. (archaic, transitive) To tear asunder; to break into pieces.
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

     the other divisions of the kingdom being hackled and torn to pieces

Translations

Further reading

• hackle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• hackle (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Hackel

English

Etymology

From Middle English caclen, cakelen. Compare Dutch kakelen (“to cackle”), German Low German kakeln (“to cackle”), German kakeln (“to blather”), Danish kagle (“to cackle”), Swedish kackla (“to cackle”). Compare also Old English cahhetan, ?eahhettan (“to laugh loudly; cackle”), German gackern (“to cackle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kæk?l/
• Rhymes: -æk?l

Noun

cackle (countable and uncountable, plural cackles)

1. The cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg.
2. A laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose.
3. Futile or excessively noisy talk.
   • 1930, Frank Richards, The Magnet, All Quiet on the Greyfriars Front

     There's no time to waste on silly cackle.

4. A group of hyenas.

Translations

Verb

cackle (third-person singular simple present cackles, present participle cackling, simple past and past participle cackled)

1. (intransitive) To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.
2. (intransitive) To laugh with a broken sound similar to a hen's cry.

3. (intransitive) To talk in a silly manner; to prattle.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

4. (transitive, gambling, slang) To pretend to rattle (dice) in one's hand while gripping them so that they maintain their orientation.
   • 1941, Mignon Good Eberhart, The Third Mystery Book: Six Short Mysteries (page 120)

     Danny cackled the dice furiously in his cupped hand, then rolled them so they stopped inches from Slattery's hands. The result was the same as before - a seven.

   • 2015, Jack Engelhard, The Prince of Dice (page 11)

     […] they spun all right, or so it seemed, and hit the wall all right, or so it seemed, but bottom line was this: The stirring of the dice was merely cackling, the cubes artfully framed so that the spots in the kid's fists showed 4?4 up?right and weren't really rattled but rather, held in control by the pinky, forefinger and thumb; […]

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:laugh

Translations

See also

• cluck