Hatchel /(-ĕl; 277)/

1. An instrument with long iron teeth set in a board, for cleansing flax or hemp from the tow, hards, or coarse part; a kind of large comb; -- called also hackle and heckle.

imp. & p. p. Hatcheled; p. pr. & vb. n. Hatcheling

1. To draw through the teeth of a hatchel, as flax or hemp, so as to separate the coarse and refuse parts from the fine, fibrous parts.
2. To tease; to worry; to torment. [Colloq.]