Obs. Also 7 brusle, 8 burstle. [app. a variant of BRISTLE v., perh. influenced in sense 3 by the prec., or by rustle.]
1. intr. To bristle as hair. See BRISTLE.
2. To bristle up as an excited beast, raise the mane.
1656. Cowley, Davideis, I. (1669), 17. A Lyon … brustles up preparing for his feast.
3. esp. Of birds: To raise the feathers; hence fig. with reference to the turkeycock or peacock: To show off, vapor, bluster.
1648. Herrick, Hesper. (1859), 122. Can Yee see it brusle like a swan?
1655–60. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 99/2. Shewing him the Cocks of Midas brustling against those of Callias.
1657. G. Starkey, Helmont’s Vind., 64. He vapours and brustles like Dametas in his military accoutrements.
1659. Gauden, Tears Ch., 370. Like the Birds called Ruffs, ever brusling and pecking against each other.
1720. Stow’s Surv. (ed. Strype, 1754), II. V. xxviii. 486/1. A mercer in Cheapside; who had been often burstling … about this ceremony.
1721–1800. Bailey, Brustle … to vapour.
