brustle

From Middle English brustlien and brastlien, related to German prasseln (“to crackle”). See burst.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹʌsəl/

brustle (third-person singular simple present brustles, present participle brustling, simple past and past participle brustled)

1. To crackle; to rustle.
2. To make a show of fierceness or defiance; to bristle.
   • 1684, Thomas Otway, The Atheist: Or, The Second Part of the Soldiers Fortune:

     Cour. Oh, an Atheist, Sir; he believes neither God nor the Devil.
     Fath. 'Sbud, I'll brustle up to him. Are you an Atheist, Fellow? hoh?

“brustle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• Butlers, Struble, bluster, bustler, butlers, subtler, turbels