• IPA: /ˈbɹɪs.l̩/
• (dated, rural folk speech of New England and Upstate New York) IPA: /ˈbɹʌs.l̩/

bristle (plural bristles)

1. A stiff or coarse hair.

   the bristles of a pig

2. The hairs or other filaments that make up a brush, broom, or similar item.

• French: soie
• German: Borste
• Italian: pelo ispido, barba corta ispida
• Portuguese: cerda
• Russian: щети́на
• Spanish: cerda

• French: poil
• German: Borste
• Italian: setola, setole
• Portuguese: cerda
• Russian: щети́на
• Spanish: cerda

bristle (bristles, present participle bristling; past and past participle bristled)

1. To rise or stand erect, like bristles.
   • 1805, Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel:

     His hair did bristle upon his head.

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

   • 18, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 2, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify ), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323 ↗:

3. (with at) To be on one's guard or raise one's defenses; to react with fear, suspicion, or distance.
   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene iii]:

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

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

4. To fix a bristle to.

   to bristle a thread

• French: se hérisser
• Portuguese: eriçar
• Russian: щети́ниться
• Spanish: erizar

• IPA: /ˈbɹɪs.ɫ/

1. (slang, humorous) Bristol, England (in imitation of the local dialect)
   • , Krek Waiter, Peak Bristle.

     Correct Way to Speak Bristol.