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bristle
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
bristle
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
brush
▪ Use a soft bristle brush to loosen the grime and if possible a sprayer to wash it all off.
▪ Loosen dust and debris from the motherboard and expansion cards with a soft bristle brush.
▪ Use a good quality bristle brush - find one in your local health food shop.
▪ Wet hair tends to stretch and break and is very vulnerable so never use a bristle brush on hair when wet.
▪ Accumulations of dust can be removed with a small vacuum cleaner after loosening with a dry, soft bristle brush.
▪ I find that bristle brushes are the best.
▪ After removal, accentuate with the help of a round bristle brush.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Each peak induces a cell locally to divide and form a bristle.
▪ He ran a skeletal hand over the bristles of his hair.
▪ Lawrence then supposes that bristles grow soas to point down the concentration gradient.
▪ Pete shot out with his hair standing on end like the bristles of a brush.
▪ Soft haired brushes are mostly used for watercolour or tempera painting, with bristle mainly for oils.
▪ Use a soft bristle brush to loosen the grime and if possible a sprayer to wash it all off.
▪ Victoria: The bristles are too small.
▪ When you consider life as a whole, intelligence is a mere bristle on the hog.
II.verb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Dacourt joined us a few minutes later, his white moustache bristling with importance, his face a little more puce.
▪ He scratched a bite on his arm and the little hairs bristled.
▪ It bristled with hand-stitched leather, walnut fascia and electronic instruments.
▪ It bristles with intention and has much excellent playing, particularly from the leader.
▪ She especially bristled at attacks on Rep.
▪ The more your manager pours praise and perks upon you, the more your friends will bristle.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bristle

Bristle \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.

Bristle

Bristle \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.

Bristle

Bristle \Bris"tle\ (br[i^]s"s'l), n. [OE. bristel, brustel, AS. bristl, byrst; akin to D. borstel, OHG. burst, G. borste, Icel. burst, Sw. borst, and to Skr. bh[.r]shti edge, point, and prob, L. fastigium extremity, Gr. 'a`flaston stern of a ship, and E. brush, burr, perh. to brad. [root]96.]

  1. A short, stiff, coarse hair, as on the back of swine.

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

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
bristle

Old English byrst "bristle," with metathesis of -r-, from Proto-Germanic *bursti- (cognates: Middle Dutch borstel, German borste), from PIE *bhrsti- from root *bhars- "point, bristle" (cognates: Sanskrit bhrstih "point, spike"). With -el, diminutive suffix.

bristle

c.1200 (implied in past participle adjective bristled) "set or covered with bristles," from bristle (n.). Meaning "become angry or excited" is 1540s, from the way animals show fight. Related: Bristling.

Wiktionary
bristle

n. 1 A stiff or coarse hair. 2 The hair or straws that make up a brush, broom, or similar item. vb. 1 To rise or stand erect, like bristles. 2 To appear as if covered with bristles; to have standing, thick and erect, like bristles. 3 To be on one's guard or raise one's defenses; to react with fear, suspicion, or distance.

Related phrases:
WordNet
bristle

  1. v. be in a state of movement or action; "The room abounded with screaming children"; "The garden bristled with toddlers" [syn: abound, burst]

  2. rise up as in fear; "The dog's fur bristled"; "It was a sight to make one's hair uprise!" [syn: uprise, stand up]

bristle

  1. n. a stiff fiber (coarse hair or filament); natural or synthetic

  2. a stiff hair

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Bristle

A bristle is a stiff hair or feather (natural or artificial), either on an animal, such as a pig, or on a tool such as a brush or broom.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "bristle".

The bilobed leaf, with the midrib likewise tipped with a bristle, stands in the midst of these projections, and is evidently defended by them.

Sharpened stakes were stuck in the sides of the ramparts, so that the compound bristled, like some great hedgehog of wood and mud.

The youthful, red-haired ruler of England and Normandy was not overly tall, but he bristled with a fierce energy that, in addition to his broad shoulders and powerful body and booming voice, gave him a commanding presence second to none.

Christie appeared to take it as an adverse comment, however, and bristled slightly.

Savage and his men, surrounded completely now, formed a tight ring, a circlet that bristled with the razorsharp steel thorns of their knives.

The head is round, the lips thick and bristled with moustaches, the body is elongated, and the tail terminated by a crescent-shaped flapper.

Dark fur bristled across his brow as he reached down and lifted the disk with his fingers.

The masts of hundreds of longships bristled from the waters of Iron Bay.

Daryth held the dogs silent, although their hackles bristled at the approach of the strangers.

The big male, he noticed, bristled aggressively and began to move forward, but even his bearing bespoke fear.

As Grunnarch tried to assemble the force, vines and creepers that bristled with thorns sprouted from the ground between his men.

Thousands upon thousands the cones bristled, pyramiding to the base of one tremendous spire that tapered up almost to the top of the shaft itself.

Thickly the head bristled with them, poised motionless upon spinning globes as huge as they.

Set on edge by such casual firsthand reference to Fellowship resources and magecraft, he bristled, his unease lent preternatural spin by the spell-charged effects of the wine.

Braggen, his heavy brows bristled, and his short, scrappy steps reflecting a pique like dammed magma.