bristly

comparative bristlier · superlative bristliest · alternative brisly

1. Covered with bristles.

   ONE DAY a caveman sat scratching his bristly cheeks with a sharp shell. Maybe it was the shell of a razor clam. But at least it took the whiskers off dandily. And pretty soon a little cavegirl wandered by and rubbed the caveman’s smooth cheek fondly.

   1966 April 3, Art Vinsel, “Gadzooks! Where Did All the Hirsutes Come From?”, in Independent-Press-Telegram, volume 14, number 31, Long Beach, Calif., page eight

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   He was a short man with a long hooked nose. A blue skull-cap with a red border scarcely covered his head of bristly grey hair, and a short-bodied but long Ringerike coat of dark grey frieze with worn velvet borders served to make the roundness and crookedness of his back still more conspicuous.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 285

2. Easily antagonized; irascible; prone to bristling.