bristle
/ˈbɹɪsəl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.75 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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
To abound, to be covered with, or to have an abundance of, something, especially something jutting out.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "the bristles of a pig"
- "His hair began to bristle with anger when the subject was mentioned."
- "The cat’s fur bristled when the dog approached."
- "The soldier’s body would bristle with tension before a battle."
- "His hair did bristle upon his head."
- "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."
Etymology
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”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: bristil, bristl, *burstilu, *bursti, *burstiz, *bʰr̥stís