heckle

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to interrupt a speaker or performer with derisive comments

   A few drunks tried to heckle the comedian off the stage.

Simplified etymology

Heckle was a medieval variant of hackle, the name of an implement with parallel steel pins used to split and straighten flax fibres. In the early 19th century, the image of this rough treatment was transferred to persistently challenging or interrupting a speaker. The older word goes back to a root related to hook.

From Middle English hekelen ('to comb flax with a hatchel'), a frequentative related to hackle; the sense of badgering a speaker arose from the figurative idea of 'combing over' someone roughly.

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