a. Without a back. [ 1913 Webster ]

, v. t. To coat or to polish with black lead (graphite). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A notorious gambler. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A disease among calves and sheep, characterized by a settling of gelatinous matter in the legs, and sometimes in the neck. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Cackled p. pr. & vb. n. Cackling ] [ OE. cakelen; cf. LG. kakeln, D. kakelen, G. gackeln, gackern; all of imitative origin. Cf. Gagle, Cake to cackle. ] 1. To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does. [ 1913 Webster ]

When every goose is cackling. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To laugh with a broken noise, like the cackling of a hen or a goose; to giggle. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To talk in a silly manner; to prattle. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The sharp broken noise made by a goose or by a hen that has laid an egg. [ 1913 Webster ]

By her cackle saved the state. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Idle talk; silly prattle. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is a buzz and cackle all around regarding the sermon. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A fowl that cackles. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who prattles, or tells tales; a tattler. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ Dim. of crack. ] To make slight cracks; to make small, sharp, sudden noises, rapidly or frequently repeated; to crepitate; as, burning thorns crackle. [ 1913 Webster ]

The unknown ice that crackles underneath them. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The noise of slight and frequent cracks or reports; a crackling. [ 1913 Webster ]

The crackle of fireworks. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) A kind of crackling sound or râle, heard in some abnormal states of the lungs; as, dry crackle; moist crackle. Quain. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Fine Arts) A condition produced in certain porcelain, fine earthenware, or glass, in which the glaze or enamel appears to be cracked in all directions, making a sort of reticulated surface; as, Chinese crackle; Bohemian crackle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Fine Arts) Covered with minute cracks in the glaze; -- said of some kinds of porcelain and fine earthenware. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Crackle, n., 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To supply with tackle. [ Obs. ] Skelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A tackle or purchase used to raise the flukes of the anchor up to the gunwale. The block used is called the fish-block. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. L. graculus jackdaw. ] (Zool.) (a) One of several American blackbirds, of the family Icteridæ; as, the rusty grackle (Scolecophagus Carolinus); the boat-tailed grackle (see Boat-tail); the purple grackle (Quiscalus quiscula, or Q. versicolor). See Crow blackbird, under Crow. (b) An Asiatic bird of the genus Gracula. See Myna. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Hackled p. pr. & vb. n. Hackling ] 1. To separate, as the coarse part of flax or hemp from the fine, by drawing it through the teeth of a hackle or hatchel. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To tear asunder; to break in pieces. [ 1913 Webster ]

The other divisions of the kingdom being hackled and torn to pieces. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Heckle, and cf. Hatchel. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A comb for dressing flax, raw silk, etc.; a hatchel. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any flimsy substance unspun, as raw silk. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. One of the peculiar, long, narrow feathers on the neck of fowls, most noticeable on the cock, -- often used in making artificial flies; hence, any feather so used. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An artificial fly for angling, made of feathers. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Ham + shackle. ] To fasten (an animal) by a rope binding the head to one of the fore legs; as, to hamshackle a horse or cow; hence, to bind or restrain; to curb. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Macle. ] Same as Macule. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. To blur, or be blurred, in printing, as if there were a double impression. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. & t. [ imp. & p. p. Quackled p. pr. & vb. n. Quackling ] [ Cf.Querken. ] To suffocate; to choke. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Etymol. uncertain. ] Loose; disjointed; falling to pieces; out of repair. [ 1913 Webster ]

There came . . . my lord the cardinal, in his ramshackle coach. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To search or ransack; to rummage. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. sacleás; sacu contention + leás loose, free from. ] Quiet; peaceable; harmless; innocent. [ Obs. or Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Stubble. [ Prov. Eng. ] Pegge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Generally used in the plural. ] [ OE. schakkyll, schakle, AS. scacul, sceacul, a shackle, fr. scacan to shake; cf. D. schakel a link of a chain, a mesh, Icel. skökull the pole of a cart. See Shake. ] 1. Something which confines the legs or arms so as to prevent their free motion; specifically, a ring or band inclosing the ankle or wrist, and fastened to a similar shackle on the other leg or arm, or to something else, by a chain or a strap; a gyve; a fetter. [ 1913 Webster ]

His shackles empty left; himself escaped clean. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, that which checks or prevents free action. [ 1913 Webster ]

His very will seems to be in bonds and shackles. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A fetterlike band worn as an ornament. [ 1913 Webster ]

Most of the men and women . . . had all earrings made of gold, and gold shackles about their legs and arms. Dampier. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A link or loop, as in a chain, fitted with a movable bolt, so that the parts can be separated, or the loop removed; a clevis. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A link for connecting railroad cars; -- called also drawlink, draglink, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The hinged and curved bar of a padlock, by which it is hung to the staple. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shackle joint (Anat.), a joint formed by a bony ring passing through a hole in a bone, as at the bases of spines in some fishes. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Shackled p. pr. & vb. n. Shackling. ] 1. To tie or confine the limbs of, so as to prevent free motion; to bind with shackles; to fetter; to chain. [ 1913 Webster ]

To lead him shackled, and exposed to scorn
Of gathering crowds, the Britons' boasted chief. J. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Figuratively: To bind or confine so as to prevent or embarrass action; to impede; to cumber. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shackled by her devotion to the king, she seldom could pursue that object. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To join by a link or chain, as railroad cars. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Shackle bar, the coupling between a locomotive and its tender. [ U.S. ] --
Shackle bolt, a shackle. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. takel, akin to LG. & D. takel, Dan. takkel, Sw. tackel; perhaps akin to E. taw, v. t., or to take. ] 1. Apparatus for raising or lowering heavy weights, consisting of a rope and pulley blocks; sometimes, the rope and attachments, as distinct from the block, in which case the full appratus is referred to as a block and tackle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any instruments of action; an apparatus by which an object is moved or operated; gear; as, fishing tackle, hunting tackle; formerly, specifically, weapons. “She to her tackle fell.” Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In Chaucer, it denotes usually an arrow or arrows. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) The rigging and apparatus of a ship; also, any purchase where more than one block is used. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fall and tackle. See the Note under Pulley. --
Fishing tackle. See under Fishing, a. --
Ground tackle (Naut.), anchors, cables, etc. --
Gun tackle, the apparatus or appliances for hauling cannon in or out. --
Tackle fall, the rope, or rather the end of the rope, of a tackle, to which the power is applied. --
Tack tackle (Naut.), a small tackle to pull down the tacks of the principal sails. --
Tackle board,
Tackle post (Ropemaking), a board, frame, or post, at the end of a ropewalk, for supporting the spindels, or whirls, for twisting the yarns. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Tackled p. pr. & vb. n. Tackling. ] [ Cf. LG. takeln to equip. See Tackle, n. ] 1. To supply with tackle. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fasten or attach, as with a tackle; to harness; as, to tackle a horse into a coach or wagon. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To seize; to lay hold of; to grapple; as, a wrestler tackles his antagonist; a dog tackles the game. [ 1913 Webster ]

The greatest poetess of our day has wasted her time and strength in tackling windmills under conditions the most fitted to insure her defeat. Dublin Univ. Mag. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Football) To cause the ball carrier to fall to the ground, thus ending the forward motion of the ball and the play. [ PJC ]

5. To begin to deal with; as, to tackle the problem. [ PJC ]

n. (Football) 1. An act of tackling{ 4 }; as, brought down by a tackle by a lineman. [ PJC ]

2. (Football) One of two linemen on a football team, occupying a position between the guard and an end; also, the position played by such a tackle. [ PJC ]

a. Made of ropes tacked together. [ 1913 Webster ]

My man shall be with thee,
And bring thee cords made like a tackled stair. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) A tackle used in hoisting and lowering the topmast. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no track; marked by no footsteps; untrodden; as, a trackless desert. [ 1913 Webster ]

To climb the trackless mountain all unseen. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Track"less*ly, adv.-Track"less*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + shackle. ] To loose from shackles or bonds; to set free from restraint; to unfetter. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + tackle. ] To unbitch; to unharness. [ Colloq. ] Tusser. [ 1913 Webster ]