ˈbristly, a.
(ˈbrɪslɪ)
Also 6 brizlie, brissly, 7 brislie, brisly, bristlie.
[f. bristle n. + -y1.]
1. Set with bristles or short stiff hairs; setose.
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Erizado, rough, bristly. 1626 Bacon Sylva §781 The leaves..are somewhat bristly. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 98 The Mastful Beech the bristly Chestnut bears. 1718 Pope Iliad xvi. 994 The roaring lion meets a bristly boar. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flor. 15 Capsule globose, sessile, bristly. |
b. fig.
| 1872 Daily News 25 July, An intelligent and acceptable Republic—not that fierce and chafing thing made up of bristly laws. 1872 Globe 5 Aug., That kind of bristly temper which is always on the look-out for causes of offence. |
2. Of the nature of or like bristles.
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 620 On his bow-back he hath a battle set Of bristly pikes. 1645 G. Daniel Poems Wks. 1878 II. 65 If I Have bristlie haire. 1735 Somerville Chase ii. 58 Rough bristly Stubbles. 1857 W. Collins Dead Secr. (1861) 70 A ring of bristly iron-grey hair projected like a collar. |
3. Thickly set with sharp or defiant points.
| 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xvi. ii. VI. 152 The Chevalier..scans a little the frowning buttresses, bristly with guns. |