What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Hackle vs Huckle - What's the difference?

hackle | huckle |

As nouns the difference between hackle and huckle

is that hackle is an instrument with steel pins used to comb out flax or hemp while huckle is (label) the hip, the haunch.

As a verb hackle

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

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.

    huckle

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (label) The hip, the haunch.
  • * 1676 , A Way to Get Wealth , Book I, page 5
  • * 1687 , The History of the Most Renowned Don Quixote of Mancha and His Trusty Squire (translated by JP), Book II, page 433:
  • * 1837 , John French Burke, British husbandry: exhibiting the farming practice , page 392:
  • A bunch or part projecting like the hip.
  • (Udall)
  • A homosexual man.
  • * '>citation
  • *2002 , "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
  • * '>citation