Hackling

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Interrupting and harassing a speaker with rude comments or questions ; combing and separating fibers from plant stalks such as flax or hemp to prepare them for spinning
2. Shouting disruptive remarks at someone addressing an audience ; the process of combing out tangled fibers from plant material like flax to make them suitable for textile production
3. Heckling or taunting a public speaker with hostile interjections ; drawing a comb through stems of flax or hemp to extract and straighten the usable fibers

Etymology: "Hackling" is the present participle and gerund of "hackle", so its story belongs to the older noun. That noun came into Middle English as "hakle" and descends from Old English "hæcla" or "hacele", ultimately from a Proto-Germanic form "*hakulǭ", built on the same root as "hack" with a diminutive-style ending "-le". The word is cognate with Dutch "hekel" and German "Hechel", which share the same sense of a comb or set of spikes. The original picture is a row of sharp teeth or pins. A hackle was a tool for combing out flax or hemp, drawing the fibres through a board of metal spikes to separate and straighten them before spinning. Over time the sense moved from the comb to the fibres dressed by it, and then to other things with a similar bristling or spiky look, such as the long feathers on a bird's neck or the erect plumes once worn on a hat.

Synonyms: heckling, taunting