Adjective: bristly (bristlier,bristliest) bris-(u-)lee
- Having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.
"a horse with a short bristly mane"; "bristly shrubs";
- barbed, barbellate, briary, briery, bristled, burred, burry, prickly, setose, setaceous, spiny, thorny
- Very irritable
"bristly exchanges between the White House and the press";
- prickly, splenetic, waspish, spiky
Derived forms: bristlier, bristliest
See also: armed, ill-natured