bristle

Meanings

Noun

• A stiff or coarse hair.
• The hairs or other filaments that make up a brush, broom, or similar item.

Verb

• To rise or stand erect, like bristles.
• abound, to have an abundance of something
• (with at) To be on one's guard or raise one's defenses; to react with fear, suspicion, or distance.
• To fix a bristle to.

Origin

• From Middle English bristil, bristel, brustel, from Old English bristl, *brystl, *byrstel, from Proto-West Germanic *burstilu, diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *bursti, from Proto-Germanic *burstiz (compare Dutch borstel, German Borste, Icelandic burst), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥stís (compare Middle Irish brostaid, Latin fastīgium, Polish barszcz), equivalent to brust + -le.