bristle

Meaning

Noun

1. A stiff or coarse hair, usually and especially on a nonhuman mammal.
2. A chaeta: an analogous filament on arthropods, annelids, or other animals.
3. The hairs or other filaments that make up a brush, broom, or similar item, typically made from plant cellulose, animal hairs, or synthetic polymers.

Verb

1. To rise or stand erect, like bristles.
2. To abound, to be covered with, or to have an abundance of, something, especially something jutting out.
3. To be on one's guard or raise one's defenses; to react with fear, suspicion, or distance.
4. (obsolete) To make (something) rise or stand erect, like bristles.
5. To cause (someone) to be on one's guard or raise one's defenses.
6. To fix a bristle to.

Synonyms

stand on end

stubble

uprise

burst

seta

bridle up

stand up

abound

hair

get angry

plume

prickle

quill

reek

rise up

ruffle

ruffled

spine

straighten

thistle

thorn

tipsiness

tousled

unbend

whiskers

animal hair

bristle at

stand erect

strand of hair

grow thickly

body hair

be stirred up

horripilate

stiff hair

horripillate

become disheveled

become dishevelled

beard

be full

brier

bristles

coat

🧥

drunkenness

fur

fuzz

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbɹɪsəl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: bristil

Inherited from Old English: bristl

Cognate with Dutch: borstel

Cognate with German: Borste

Cognate with Icelandic: burst

Cognate with Middle Irish: brostaid

Cognate with Latin: fastīgium

Cognate with Polish: barszcz

In summary

From Middle English bristil, bristel, brustel, from Old English bristl, byrst, *brystl, *byrstel, from Proto-West Germanic *burstilu, diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *bursti, from Proto-Germanic *burstiz (compare Dutch borstel, German Borste (“boar's bristle”), Icelandic burst), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥stís (compare Middle Irish brostaid (“to goad, spur”), Latin fastīgium (“top”), Polish barszcz (“hogweed”)), equivalent to brust + -le.