Bristle \Bris"tle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bristled; p. pr. & vb. n. Bristling.]

1. To erect the bristles of; to cause to stand up, as the bristles of an angry hog; -- sometimes with up. [1913 Webster]

Now for the bare-picked bone of majesty Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Boy, bristle thy courage up. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

2. To fix a bristle to; as, to bristle a thread. [1913 Webster]

Source: The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
 

50 Moby Thesaurus words for "bristling": alive with, barbellate, bristled, bristly, bursting, close, compact, crammed, crawling, crowded, crowding, dense, firm, full, glochidiate, hairy, hirsute, hispid, in profusion, jam-packed, jammed, lavish, overflowing, packed, populous, prodigal, profuse, proliferating, prolific, rife, serried, setaceous, setose, setous, solid, strigal, strigate, strigose, stubbled, stubbly, studded, superabundant, swarming, teeming, thick, thick as hail, thick with, thick-coming, thronged, thronging

Source: Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
 

Bristle \Bris"tle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bristled; p. pr. & vb. n. Bristling.]

1. To erect the bristles of; to cause to stand up, as the bristles of an angry hog; -- sometimes with up.

Now for the bare-picked bone of majesty Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest. --Shak.

Boy, bristle thy courage up. --Shak.

2. To fix a bristle to; as, to bristle a thread.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)