bristle

plural bristles

1. A stiff or coarse hair on a nonhuman mammal or on a plant.

   the bristles of a pig

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.

present singular third person bristles · participle present bristling · participle past bristled · past bristled

1. intransitiveTo rise or stand erect, like bristles.

   The cat’s fur bristled when the dog approached.

   4 more examples

   His hair began to bristle with anger when the subject was mentioned.

   The soldier’s body would bristle with tension before a battle.

   His hair did bristle upon his head.

   1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC

   He sat down with his elbows upon the desk, his gorilla hands clasped together, his beard bristling forward, and his big grey eyes, half-covered by his drooping lids, fixed benignly upon me.

   1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine

2. intransitiveusuallyTo abound, to be covered with, or to have an abundance of, something, especially something jutting out.

   ports bristling with thousands of masts

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter II, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   the hill of La Haye Sainte bristling with ten thousand bayonets

   1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 5, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC

   Kieran Tierney did not want to risk a challenge on Pulisic, who darted on to the ball with far greater purpose, and the dink over Emi Martínez bristled with composure.

   2020 August 1, David Hytner, “Aubameyang at the double as Arsenal turn tables on Chelsea to win FA Cup”, in The Guardian

3. intransitiveusuallyTo be on one's guard or raise one's defenses; to react with fear, suspicion, or distance.

   The employees bristled at the prospect of working through the holidays.

   4 more examples

   Now for the bare-picked bone of majesty / Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest.

   c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

   Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.

   2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70

   If only the industry could be honest and explain why it has been forced, owing to government policies, to increase fares over the quarter century since privatisation. Instead, it is defensive and clearly bristles with annoyance when someone merely states the facts.

   2021 May 5, Barry Doe, “The Independent has a better grasp than GWR's spokesman”, in RAIL, number 930, page 58

   “They didn’t want it more,” [Julian] Nagelsmann bristled. “I cannot tell any of my players that they didn’t give it their all. That’s far too simplistic.”

   2026 June 28, Jonathan Liew, “Germany trapped between past and future with team lost in identity malaise”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

4. archaicobsoletetransitiveTo make (something) rise or stand erect, like bristles.First known use 16th-early 20th c.

   As,when(at Cock-pit)two old Cocks doe fight, (Briſtling their Plumes,&(red with rage)do ſmite […]

   1631, Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, “The Tropheis. […]”, in Iosvah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas: His Deuine Weekes And Workes […], page 196, column 1

   2 more examples

   The lion is let looſe inthe night, and the Earle hauing a night-gowne caſt ouer his ſhirt, with his girdle and ſword, and ſo comming downe the ſtaires into the court, meeteth with the lion briſtling his haire, and roaring.

   1621, Philippus Camerarius, “Of the heroicall nature of Lions , tormented in ſome Conntreys with Gnats to the death” (chapter II), in Iohn Molle, transl., The Living Librarie, or, Meditations and Observations Historical, Natural,Moral, Political, and Poetical, London: […] Adam Islip, page 77

   As for the Icnumon, hee hath but onely chāged his name;now called the Rat of Nilus.A beaſt particular to Ægypt,about the bigneſſe of a Cat, and as cleanly: ſnowted like a Ferret , but that blacke and without long haire,ſharpe tootht,round eard,ſhort legd,long taild (being thicke where it ioynes to the body,and ſpinie at the end)his haire ſharpe, hard,and branded, briſtling it vp when angry, and then will flye vpon a maſtiffe.

   1627, “The Second Booke”, in A Relation of a Iourney begun An. Dom. 1610. […], 3rd edition, London: […] Ro. Allot, page 101

5. transitiveuncommonTo cause (someone) to be on one's guard or raise one's defenses.

   Your blatant attitude always bristles me.

   4 more examples

   Mr. Berman, you know me well enough to know that I—and it just bristles me when I hear agriculture thrown into one lump basket, that we’re a bunch of crooks and treat our workers bad, because that is not the case. I have—I wish you could talk to some of my farm workers.

   1996, Guest Worker Programs: […], United States Government Publishing Office, page 116

   I scowl. “Pretty sure women are not explicitly forbidden in my contract.” He lowers his voice. “No, but it’s good to be cautious when you're trying to rehab a public image.” Something about the comment bristles me. “Hey, it’s not my image. I’ve always been good.”

   2016 November 28, Lauren Blakely, Out of Bounds, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 65

   When we take on a new name, it can be hard for other people to get used to. […] But if someone new in my life calls me that old name, it bristles me. That’s not who I am.

   2021 February, Phoenix LeFae, Gwion Raven, Life Ritualized: A Witch's Guide to Honoring Life's Important Moments, Llewellyn Worldwide, page 135

   ‘No. I don’t believe in wasting my money on crap like that.’ ‘It’s not your money, it’s mine.’ I can see the comment bristles him; he feels inadequate: his daughter is wealthier than he’s ever been.

   2021 April, Terry Westby-Nunn, The Artist Vanishes, Penguin Random House South Africa, page 159

6. rareTo fix a bristle or bristles to.

   to bristle a thread

   1 more example

   For quotations using this term, see Citations:bristle.

1. humorousslangBristol, England (in imitation of the local dialect)

   Correct Way to Speak Bristol.

   1970, Krek Waiter, Peak Bristle