bristle Meaning, Definition & Usage
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noun a stiff fiber (coarse hair or filament); natural or synthetic
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noun a stiff hair
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verb be in a state of movement or action
abound; burst.
- The room abounded with screaming children
- The garden bristled with toddlers
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verb rise up as in fear
stand up; uprise.
- The dog's fur bristled
- It was a sight to make one's hair uprise!
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verb have or be thickly covered with or as if with bristles
- bristling leaves
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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.Definitions
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A short, stiff, coarse hair, as on the back of swine. -
(Bot.) A stiff, sharp, roundish hair. Gray.
Bris"tle transitive verb
Wordforms
Definitions
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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.
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To fix a bristle to; as, to .bristle a thread
Bris"tle intransitive verb
Definitions
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To rise or stand erect, like bristles. His hair did bristle upon his head. Sir W. Scott.
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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.
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To show deflance or indignation.