The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

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