▪ I. heckle, n.
(ˈhɛk(ə)l)
Also 5–7 hek-, hekk-, heck-, -el(l, -il(l, -yl(l.
[A parallel form (:—OE. *hęcel) of hackle, q.v. for etymological relations. Another parallel form is hatchel, with variants hetchel, hitchel.]
1. An instrument for combing or scutching flax or hemp; = hackle n.2 1.
| c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 668/32 Hec mataxa, hekylle. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 234/1 Hekele (Harl. heykylle), mataxa. 1485 Inv. in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees) 372, ij hekels pro lino. a 1529 Skelton El. Rummyng 295 Som layde to pledge..Theyr hekell and theyr rele. 1570 Levins Manip. 125/30 An Heckyl, pecten. 1615 Markham Eng. Housew. ii. v. (1668) 135 When your Hemp hath been twice swingled, dryed and beaten, you shall then bring it to the heckle. 1808 Char. in Ann. Reg. 101 To determine..whether long or short heckles make least refuse in dressing the flax. 1863 Sir W. Fairbairn Mills II. 197 [Baxter's] machine consists generally of six gradations of heckles. |
| fig. 1788 Burns Ep. to H. Parker 3 A land unknown to prose or rhyme; Where words ne'er crost the Muse's heckles. ? a 1800 Rob Roy xii. in Child Ballads vii. ccxxv. 246/1 He was a hedge unto his friends, A heckle to his faes, ladie. |
2. a. The long shining feathers on the neck of certain birds, esp. the cock; = hackle n.2 3.
| c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab., Sir Chanticleer 58, I beheld your fedderis fair and gent, Your beike, your breist, your Hekill & your Came. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 156 Phebus red fowle..Oft streking furth his hekkyll, crawand cleir. 1893 Daily News 8 Apr. 7/1 For Guildersmalsen, January, 1795, the men of the ‘Forty Twa’, were rewarded with ‘the glorious red heckle’ or vulture plume, which has ever since been the distinctive badge of the Black Watch. |
b. to set up (one's) heckle. See hackle n.2 3 b.
| 1601 Deacon & Walker Answ. to Darel 79 If..you begin (like a cowardlie crauen) so soone to set vp the heckle. |
3. Angling. An artificial fly; = hackle n.2 4. Also heckle-fly.
| 1808–18 Jamieson, Heckle..A fly, for angling, dressed merely with a cock's feather. 1825 Brockett, Heckle, Heckle-flee, an artificial fly for fishing. |
4. a. One who heckles. See heckle v. 3. Sc.
| 1830 Galt Lawrie T. iv. xi. (1849) 183 What was the use of argolbargoling with such a heckle? |
b. The action of heckling.
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 29 Apr. 3/2 Our congratulations to..Mr. Davies on his..successful heckle. 1944 H. van Zeller Ezechiel viii. 69 We again look for some sort of an apologia, an objection or two, a mild heckle, a question. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as heckle-maker, heckle-pin, heckle tooth (sense 1); heckle-fly (sense 2); heckle-headed adj. to be on the heckle-pins, to be in painful anxiety or uneasiness.
| c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab., Lion & Mouse 32 His hude of skarlet, bordowrit with silk, In hekle wyss vntill his girdill doun. 1483 Cath. Angl. 181/1 (MS. A) Hekylle makere, mataxarius. 1770 in A. N. Palmer Wrexham (1893) Introd. 11 One heckel-maker. c 1785 J. Thompson's Man 15 Crook-backed, heckle-headed..lap-lugged, ill-haired. 1808–18 Jamieson s.v. Heckle v., To come o'er the heckle-pins, to be severely examined. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 209 [They] present their heckle points radially from their axes. 1863 Sir W. Fairbairn Mills II. 198 The short..fibres..are taken out by the heckle teeth. Ibid., The bite of the holder is quite close up on the points of the heckle-pins. 1872 C. Gibbon For the King xix, The poor lad was on heckle-pins. |
▪ II. heckle
dial. var. of hickwall.
▪ III. heckle, v.
(ˈhɛk(ə)l)
Forms: 5 hekel, -ylle, -le, 5–6 heckel(l, (hecle), 6– heckle.
[f. prec. n.; cf. hackle, hatchel vbs.]
1. trans. To dress (flax or hemp) with a heckle, to split and straighten out the fibres; = hackle v.3
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 234/1 Hekelyn, mataxo. 1530 Palsgr. 582/2 My father was a hosyer and my mother dyd heckell flaxe. 1535 [see hatchel v. 1 α, quot. 1398]. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 567 Heckle it through a finer heckle, then spinne it. 1794 A. Young Agric. Suffolk (1797) 122 The buyer heckles it [the hemp]..he makes it into two or three sorts: long strike, short strike, and full tow. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 213 A system of machines for scutching and heckling flax was specified by patent..in July, 1833. |
b. transf. To scratch.
| 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 107 With his hard hurcheone skyn sa heklis he my chekis. |
2. intr. for refl. To undergo heckling.
| 1733 P. Lindsay Interest Scot. 153 This Kind of Lint heckles away almost to nothing, and is indeed in Appearance very fine. |
3. trans. To catechize severely, with a view to discover the weak points of the person interrogated. Long applied in Scotland to the public questioning of parliamentary candidates. Also absol.
| 1808–25 Jamieson, To Heckle, 2. To tease with questions, to examine severely. 1880 Punch 28 Aug., To heckle with questions and bother with Bogeys Appear the Fourth Party's preposterous rules. 1886 Leeds Mercury 12 Mar. 5/2 The audience proceeded to ‘heckle’ him in a way dear to Scotch constituencies. 1891 E. W. Gosse Gossip in Library xxiii. 298 On the hustings, Lord John Manners was a good deal heckled. |
† 4. intr. To wrangle. Cf. haggle v. 2. Obs.
| 1596 J. Melvill Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 302 And ther they heckled on, till all the hous and clos baith hard much of a large hour. |
5. trans. To ‘dress’, chastise. dial.
| 1828 Craven Dial., Heckle, to beat, to chastise. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., A Heckling, a scolding undergone; the ordeal of being ‘called over the coals’. |
Hence ˈheckled ppl. a., dressed (as flax) with a heckle; heckˈlee nonce-wd., one who undergoes heckling or hostile interrogation; heckling ppl. a., that heckles.
| 1863 Sir W. Fairbairn Mills II. 198 Heckled flax. 1888 Besant Herr Paulus I. 296 ‘Permit me one more question’, this heckling Professor continued. 1893 Stevenson Catriona 89 He answered, with a heckling laugh. 1895 Daily Tel. 17 July 5/1 As a ‘hecklee’—if the term be permissible—the Liberal candidate for East Fife leaves little to be desired. |