BRISTLES
Noun
bristles
plural of bristle
Verb
bristles
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of bristle
Anagrams
• blisters
Source: Wiktionary
BRISTLE
Bris"tle, n. Etym: [OE. bristel, brustel, AS. bristl, byrst; akin to
D. borstel, OHG. burst, G. borste, Icel. burst, Sw. borst, and to
Skr. bh edge, point, and prob, L. fastigium extremity, Gr. brush,
burr, perh. to brad. sq. root96.]
1. A short, stiff, coarse hair, as on the back of swine.
2. (Bot.)
Definition: 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 deflance or indignation. To bristle up, to show anger or
deflance.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition