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   heckle

   /ˈhɛkl/

   verb

   • 1. interrupt (a public speaker) with derisive or aggressive comments or abuse: "he was booed and heckled when he tried to address the demonstrators"
   • 2. dress (flax or hemp) to split and straighten the fibres for spinning: "hemp was heckled and spun into rope yarn"

   noun

   • 1. a heckling comment: "heckles of ‘Get stuffed!’"

   Word Origin Middle English (in heckle (sense 2 of the verb)): from heckle ‘flax comb’, a northern and eastern form of hackle. The sense ‘interrupt (a public speaker) with aggressive comments’ arose in the mid 17th century; for the development in sense, compare with tease.

   Scrabble Points: 15

   • H

     4

   • E

     1

   • C

     3

   • K

     5

   • L

     1

   • E

     1

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