Hackle vs Cackle - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between hackle and cackle

is that hackle is an instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp while cackle is the cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg.

As verbs the difference between hackle and cackle

is that hackle is to dress (flax or hemp) with a hackle; to prepare fibres of flax or hemp for spinning while cackle is to make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.

hackle

English

Noun

(en noun)

An instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp.

(fishing) A feather used to make a fishing lure or a fishing lure incorporating a feather.

When the dog got angry his hackles rose and he growled.

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.

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

* (instrument with pins) heckle, hatchel * (sense, plume on some soldier's uniforms) panache, plume

Verb

(hackl)

To dress (flax or hemp) with a hackle; to prepare fibres of flax or hemp for spinning.

* 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.

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) To tear asunder; to break into pieces.

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

cackle

English

Noun

(en noun)

The cry of a hen or goose, especially when laying an egg

A laugh resembling the cry of a hen or goose.

Verb

(en-verb)

To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does.

* Shakespeare

When every goose is cackling .

To laugh with a broken sound similar to a hen's cry.

*, title=The Mirror and the Lamp

, chapter=2 citation , passage=She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.}}

To talk in a silly manner; to prattle.

(Johnson)

Synonyms

* See also