bristle Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a stiff fiber (coarse hair or filament); natural or synthetic
  2. noun a stiff hair
  3. verb be in a state of movement or action
    abound; burst.
    • The room abounded with screaming children
    • The garden bristled with toddlers
  4. verb rise up as in fear
    stand up; uprise.
    • The dog's fur bristled
    • It was a sight to make one's hair uprise!
  5. verb have or be thickly covered with or as if with bristles
    • bristling leaves
  6. verb react in an offended or angry manner
    • He bristled at her suggestion that he should teach her how to use the program

WordNet


Bris"tle noun
Etymology
OE. bristel, brustel, AS. bristl, byrst; akin to D. borstel, OHG. burst, G. borste, Icel. burst, Sw. borst, and to Skr. bhshti edge, point, and prob, L. fastigium extremity, Gr. stern of a ship, and E. brush, burr, perh. to brad.
Definitions
  1. A short, stiff, coarse hair, as on the back of swine.
  2. (Bot.) A stiff, sharp, roundish hair. Gray.
Bris"tle transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Bristled present participle & verbal noun Bristling
Definitions
  1. To erect the bristles of; to cause to stand up, as the bristles of an angry hog; -- sometimes with up.
    Now for the bare-picked bone of majesty Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest. Shak.
    Boy, bristle thy courage up. Shak.
  2. To fix a bristle to; as, to bristle a thread.
Bris"tle intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To rise or stand erect, like bristles.
    His hair did bristle upon his head. Sir W. Scott.
  2. To appear as if covered with bristles; to have standing, thick and erect, like bristles.
    The hill of La Haye Sainte bristling with ten thousand bayonets. Thackeray.
    Ports bristling with thousands of masts. Macaulay.
  3. To show deflance or indignation.

Webster 1913