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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.

Terminating in a very fine, sharp point, as some leaves.

Resembling a bristle in form; as, a bristle-shaped leaf.

An insect of the genera Lepisma, Campodea, etc., belonging to the Thysanura.

One of the needlelike or bristlelike spines or prickles of some animals and plants; also, a needlelike crystal.

Needle-shaped; slender like a needle or bristle, as some leaves or crystals; also, having sharp points like needless. A*cic"u*lar*ly, adv.

The bristle or beard of barley, oats, grasses, etc., or any similar bristlelike appendage; arista. Gray.

Furnished with an awn, or long bristle-shaped tip; bearded. Gray.

A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.

having a large, conical beak swollen at the base, and bearded with five bunches of stiff bristles; the puff bird. It inhabits tropical America and Africa.

See Bristle. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A bristle or bristles. [Scot.]

Having two bristles.

The quality or state of having bristles.

THick set with bristles, or with hairs resembling bristles; rough. The leaves of the black mulberry are somewhat bristly. Bacon.

An instrument composed of bristles, or other like material, set in a suitable back or handle, as of wood, bone, or ivory, and used for various purposes, as in removing dust from clothes, laying on colors, etc. Brushes have different shapes and names according to their use; as, clothes brush, paint brush, tooth brush, e…

A wheel without teeth, used to turn a similar one by the friction of bristles or something brushlike or soft attached to the circumference.

To make a show of fireceness or defiance; to bristle. [Obs.] To brustle up, to bristle up. [Obs.] Otway.

The arrangement of bristles on an insect.

The backbone or spine of an animal; the back. "And chine with rising bristles roughly spread." Dryden.