bristle

«bristle» in Mova's school dictionary: A short, stiff hair, like the hairs on a toothbrush, a… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a bristle, bristles); verb (bristle, bristles, bristled, bristling)

meaning for a pupil

1) A short, stiff hair, like the hairs on a toothbrush, a brush or a pig's back. tree →

2) (verb) When an animal's hair or fur stands up stiffly because it is scared or angry. tree →

3) (verb) To suddenly show you are annoyed or offended. tree →

4) «bristle with» means to be full of or covered with many things. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life and hygiene it is the bristles of a toothbrush or hairbrush. With animals, a cat or dog bristles when it feels threatened — a warning sign to keep away. In stories it shows a character getting angry. Phrases: «soft bristles», «bristle at», «bristle with».

examples

• My toothbrush has soft bristles. tree →
• Change your toothbrush when the bristles get bent. tree →
• The cat's fur bristled when the big dog came near. tree →
• A hedgehog's back is covered in stiff spines, not soft bristles. tree →
• Paint brushes have bristles made of hair or plastic. tree →
• Dad bristled when someone called him lazy. tree →
• The old castle wall bristled with arrows. tree →
• If a dog's back hair bristles, give it space. tree →
• There sat Gray Brother, every bristle on his back lifted. tree →

note

Countable noun: one bristle, many bristles. The «t» is silent: say «BRISS-ul». A dog with bristling fur is scared or angry, not happy — do not try to pet it.

In the corpora

• Loose brushwork, holding the brush further from the bristles, often makes paintings look more alive.
• A toothbrush with bent, splayed bristles does not clean well and is changed about every three months.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «bristle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.