Definition of "bristle" []

• A stiff hair. (noun)
• A stiff hairlike structure: the bristles of a wire brush. (noun)
• To stand stiffly on end like bristles: The hair on the dog's neck bristled. (verb-intransitive)
• To raise the bristles: The cat bristled at the sight of the large dog. (verb-intransitive)
• To react in an angry or offended manner: The author bristled at the suggestion of plagiarism. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The Major looked at the Texans with cold contempt—the tone of his voice alone made Call bristle."
• "Sporangia clustered around the slender bristle, which is the prolongation of a vein, and surrounded by a vase-like, slightly two-lipped involucre."
• "Awned having an _awn_, that is, a bristle-like appendage, especially on the glumes of grasses."