Dictionary:

hackle¹

  (hăk'əl)

1. Any of the long, slender, often glossy feathers on the neck of a bird, especially a male domestic fowl.
2. hackles The erectile hairs along the back of the neck of an animal, especially of a dog.
3. 1. A tuft of cock feathers trimming an artificial fishing fly.
   2. A hackle fly.

To trim (an artificial fishing fly) with a hackle.

get (one's) hackles up

1. To be extremely insulted or irritated.

[Middle English hakell, cloak, skin, plumage, possibly from Old English hacele, cloak, mantle.]

To chop roughly; mangle by hacking.

To hack.

[Frequentative of HACK¹.]

The hairs over the neck and back that are elevated by arrector pili muscles in response to fright or anger. A mechanism to threaten opponents, perhaps by appearing larger.

• h. feathers — the feathers of the dorsal cervical tract of the domestic fowl that cover the dorsal and lateral parts of the neck. In the rooster they are often large and colorful and are erected as a sign of aggression.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: long slender feather on the necks of e.g. turkeys and pheasants

The verb hackle has one meaning:

Meaning #1: comb with a heckle
  Synonyms: heckle, hatchel

Soldiers of the Black Watch, deployed on Operation TELIC in Iraq, wear the distinctive red hackle on their Tam o'Shanters

The hackle is a feather plume (most plumes are made of horsehair) that is attached to the headdress.

In the British Army and the armies of some Commonwealth countries the hackle is worn by some infantry regiments, especially those designated fusilier regiments and those with Scottish and Northern Irish origins. It was commonly attached to the feather bonnet worn by Highland regiments (now usually only worn by drummers, pipers and bandsmen). The colour of the hackle varies from regiment to regiment.

British Army

Fusilier Regiments

In the British Army, there is a single regiment of fusiliers, plus a battalion of a large regiment:

• Royal Regiment of Fusiliers: Red over white
• Royal Highland Fusiliers (a battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland): White

There were several other fusilier regiments which have been amalgamated and no longer exist. Their colours were as follows:

• Lancashire Fusiliers: Primrose yellow
• Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment): White
• Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers: Grey
• Royal Irish Fusiliers: Green
• Royal Northumberland Fusiliers: Red over white
• Royal Scots Fusiliers: White
• Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers: Blue over red
• Royal Welch Fusiliers: White

The fictional regiment featured in the series Soldier Soldier is also a fusilier regiment:

• King's Own Fusiliers: Blue over white

Non-Fusilier Regiments

Non-fusilier regiments which wear the hackle are:

• Irish Guards (pipers on caubeen only): St Patrick's blue
• Liverpool Scottish (now a platoon of A (King's) Company, King's and Cheshire Regiment): Royal blue
• London Irish Rifles (now D (London Irish Rifles) Company, London Regiment): St Patrick's blue
• Royal Irish Regiment (as the direct descendent of two regiments of fusiliers): Green
• Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (pipers on feather bonnet only): White
• Royal Welsh (Other Ranks only): White
• Scots Guards (pipers on feather bonnet only): Blue over red

White hackle, as worn by the Royal Highland Fusiliers Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland

Following the amalgamtion of the regiments of the Scottish Division to form The Royal Regiment of Scotland on 28 March 2006, the following hackles are being worn by the regiment's constituent battalions:

• Royal Scots Borderers (1 SCOTS): Black
• Royal Highland Fusiliers (2 SCOTS): White
• Black Watch (3 SCOTS): Red
• The Highlanders (4 SCOTS): Blue
• Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (5 SCOTS): Green

Whilst the white hackle of 2 SCOTS, red hackle of 3 SCOTS and blue hackle of 4 SCOTS have a known ancestry, the origin of 1 SCOTS black hackle and 5 SCOTS green hackle are not clear and have no apparent precedent. It may be that the black hackle of 1 SCOTS simulates the black-cock tail feathers originally worn in the 1904 pattern Kilmarnock Bonnet and latterly in the regimental Glengarry Cap by the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers, who merged in August 2006 to form 1 SCOTS. Alternatively, it may be a sympathetic gesture to a former Lowland regiment, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), disbanded in 1968, who wore a black hackle in their rifle green dress Balmoral. The adoption of the green hackle now being worn by the Argylls battalion (5 SCOTS) is no doubt a continuation of that regiment's association with the colour green, most prominent in the hue of their regimental kilts and stripes on their regimental association ties. (It is, however, worthy of note that in the 19th Century, all line regiments of the British Army used to designate their "light company" with a green hackle.)^[1] The Regimental Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland does not wear the hackle.

Former non-fusilier regiments, now amalgamated, which also wore the hackle were:

• Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (feather bonnet only): White
• Black Watch: Red
• The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles): Black
• Gordon Highlanders (feather bonnet only): White
• The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons): Royal blue
• Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders: Royal blue
• Queen's Own Highlanders: Royal blue
• Queen's Royal Irish Hussars (pipers on caubeen only): White over red
• Royal Irish Rangers: Green
• Royal Corps of Transport (pipers on feather bonnet only): Red over white over blue
• Royal Ulster Rifles: Black
• Seaforth Highlanders (feather bonnet only): White

Canadian Army

Hackle as worn by the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada and the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa. Hackles worn by the QOCH in the Second World War were smaller and less voluminous; peacetime hackles adopted post-war were fuller as illustrated here.

There are also several fusilier regiments in the Canadian Army which wear the hackle (the French-speaking fusilier regiments do not appear to do so):

• Princess Louise Fusiliers: French grey
• Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada: White

Scottish-influenced non-fusilier regiments which wear the hackle include:

• Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (drummers on feather bonnet only): White
• Black Watch of Canada: Red
• Calgary Highlanders (drummers on feather bonnet only): White ^[2]
• Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa: Royal blue
• Canadian Scottish Regiment (drummers on feather bonnet only): White
• Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment (feather bonnet only): White
• Lorne Scots: Primrose yellow
• Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada: Royal blue (except pipers in full dress, who wear an eagle feather instead).^[3]
• Seaforth Highlanders of Canada (drummers on feather bonnet only): White

Irish-influenced non-fusilier regiments which wear the hackle (on the caubeen) include:

• 2nd Battalion, Irish Regiment of Canada: Green (light blue for senior NCOs and officers)

Indian Army

In the Indian Army, a few selected infantry regiments wear the hackle:

• Brigade of the Guards: Red over yellow
• The Grenadiers: White
• Kumaon Regiment: Green
• Mahar Regiment: Dull cherry
• Maratha Light Infantry: Red over green
• Naga Regiment: Orange
• Rajput Regiment: Maroon over red

Malaysian Army

• Royal Ranger Regiment: Black
• Royal Military College: Red (to be worn on Annual Passing Out parade only)

Pakistan Army

• The Punjab Regiment: Green
• 9th Battalion, Azad Kashmir Regiment: Red (commemorates the action in the Leepa Valley, Kashmir in 1972)

South African Army

Scottish- and Irish-influenced regiments which wear the hackle include:

• South African Irish Regiment: Green
• Transvaal Scottish Regiment: Red
• Witwatersrand Rifles: Black

References

1. ^ This is illustrated in The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders by Osprey Men at Arms (Osprey, 1988). ISBN 0-85045-085-3
2. ^ Spaan, LCol Warren (editor). Calgary Highlanders Regimental Book, published by the Regiment, 2002.
3. ^ Blue Hackle article at www.canadiansoldiers.com

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - rejse børster (på hund), flue (fiskeri)
v. tr. - gøre en vred

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    få en til at rejse børster, vække ens vrede

2.
v. tr. - hegle
v. intr. - være rasende

Nederlands (Dutch)
(vlas)hekel, nekveer, nekhaar bij honden, veer aan dobber, (stuk) hakken, verminken, hekelen, lastig vallen, van een veer voorzien

Français (French)
1.
n. - poils du cou (d'un animal), plumes du cou (des gallinacés)
v. tr. - (lit, fig) se hérisser

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    hérisser qn

2.
v. tr. - hacher grossièrement, déchirer
v. intr. - hacher grossièrement, déchirer

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Rückenhaare, Nackenfeder(n), Fell im Nacken
v. - hecheln

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    jmdn. ärgern

2.
v. - zerhackeln, zerstücken, zerreißen

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - λαναρίζω, (καθομ.) χτενίζω περούκα
n. - τραχηλικό φτερό, (καθομ.) τσαγανό, τόλμη

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    (καθομ.) εξοργίζω κάποιον

Italiano (Italian)
pettine (per cardare), penne del collo (di gallo, uccello ecc...), mosca artificiale, pettinare (canapa, lino)

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    far arrabbiare qualcuno, far rizzare il pelo a qualcuno

Português (Portuguese)
v. - despedaçar, destroçar
n. - gancho (m), pelo (m) ou penugem (f) de pescoço (Zool.)

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    provocar alguém a ponto de briga

Русский (Russian)
разрубать, кромсать, чесать лен, оперение на шее птиц

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    очень рассердить кого-либо

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - pluma del cuello (de un gallo), pelo erizado, pelo del cuello del perro
v. tr. - rastrillar, cortar, destrozar, mutilar

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    encolerizar a uno, hacerle echar chispas

2.
v. tr. - pluma del cuello (de un gallo), pelo erizado, rastrillo, rastrillar, cortar, destrozar, mutilar
v. intr. - pluma del cuello (de un gallo), pelo erizado, rastrillo, rastrillar, cortar, destrozar, mutilar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - häckla (lin)
n. - häckla, (pl.) nackhår (på hund), hackelfluga

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
1. 颈羽, 羽饰, 鞍羽, 动物发怒时颈背部竖起的毛, 栉梳, 梳理

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    使某人勃然大怒, 使某人发火

2. 乱砍, 乱切, 乱劈, 梳理

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
1.
v. tr. - 亂砍, 亂切, 亂劈
v. intr. - 梳理, 亂砍

2.
n. - 頸羽, 羽飾, 鞍羽, 動物發怒時頸背部豎起的毛
v. tr. - 櫛梳, 梳理

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    使某人勃然大怒, 使某人發火

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - (강아지의) 목털, (삼 따위를 훑는) 빗, 가는 실
v. tr. - 빗질하다, 훑다

idioms:

• make someone's hackles rise    화나게 하다, 적대감을 갖게 하다

2.
v. tr. - 잘게 저미다, ~을 동강치다
v. intr. - 대강 자르다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - ほぐす, 切り刻む
n. - すきぐし, 頚羽, ぎざぎざの切り口

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يمشق, يمشط الكتان أو القنب, يريش ذبابه ضعيفه (الاسم) الممشقه, مشط الكتان أو القنب, ذبابه ضعيفه, شعر العنق ومؤخرة الظهر في الطائر والديك والكلب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮נוצת-צוואר, נוצה על מצנפת חייל סקוטי, פיתיון מלאכותי על חכה‬
v. tr. - ‮התקין פיתיון מלאכותי על חכה‬
v. tr. - ‮שערות סומרות על צוואר כלב, מסרק פשתן מפלדה‬
v. intr. - ‮סרק במסרק פשתן‬

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