mackle

From the earlier form macle, from macule, which see for more.

mackle (plural mackles)

1. Obsolete form of macule.

mackle (third-person singular simple present mackles, present participle mackling, simple past and past participle mackled)

1. Obsolete form of macule.

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

mackle (third-person singular simple present mackles, present participle mackling, simple past and past participle mackled)

1. (UK, dialect, transitive) To assemble in a makeshift manner; to cobble together.
   • 1998, Audrey Howard, When Morning Comes:

     It's dry and warm and if Jacob and I were to put our heads together I'm sure we could find something in the tack-room, some harness, or a nose band or two that could be mackled together to make a carrying contraption.

Back-formation from Macklemore interpreted as mackle + more, originally from a joke "I wish he would mackle less". The origin of Macklemore is unclear – it may be a corruption of McLemore or a childhood coinage by Macklemore.

mackle (third-person singular simple present mackles, present participle mackling, simple past and past participle mackled)

1. (humorous, chiefly Internet slang) To speak like or act like rapper Macklemore, particularly in a way perceived as naive or cringeworthy.
   • 2015 June 19, Craig Jenkins, “A Brief History of Macklemore Mackling”, in Vice‎^[1]:

     For Macklemore’s birthday, we’re going to have a look at some memorable instances of him mackling—his greatest mackles, if you will—both to celebrate how far he’s come this year and to remember what horrors he remains capable of.

   • 2015 October 13, Emma Garland, “Nerds Won A Competition To Get Macklemore to Play at Their High School but the Teachers Said No Because They Have Good Taste”, in Vice‎^[2]:

     He copped what was rightfully Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy, felt genuinely bad and apologised privately, and then ruined it by making everyone aware that he had apologised – but he mackled on. He performed live dressed as a 19th century Jewish stereotype, tried to brush it off as a “random costume” – and continued to mackle.

   • 2016 August 15, Stephanie Chan, “Macklemore Responds to Twitter User After Being Asked to Denounce “Haircut of the Racists””, in Hollywood Reporter‎^[3]:

     A number of followers thanked him for his decision, with one fan writing, “He mackled less, for our sake.”

   • 2021 May 10, Patrick Burke, Tear Down the Walls: White Radicalism and Black Power in 1960s Rock, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 147:

     Pitchfork explicitly compared Eminem to Macklemore, writing that "there's a level of Mackling to a white celebrity rapper" stating "and I admit there have been times where it's been embarrassing to be a white boy, as if Marshall Mathers' mortification is of any import here."