Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Bristle

Bris′tle (brĭs′s'l), n. [OE. bristel, brustel, AS. bristl, byrst; akin to D. borstel, OHG. burst, G. borste, Icel. burst, Sw. borst, and to Skr. bhṛshti edge, point, and prob, L. fastigium extremity, Gr. ἄφλαστον stern of a ship, and E. brush, burr, perh. to brad. √96.] 1. A short, stiff, coarse hair, as on the back of swine.

2. (Bot.) A stiff, sharp, roundish hair. Gray.

Bris′tle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bristled; p. pr. & vb. n. Bristling.] 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, v. i. 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 defiance or indignation.

To bristle up, to show anger or defiance.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.