bristly

adj

Etymology: From Middle English bristli, brustly, equivalent to bristle + -y.

1. Covered with bristles.

   “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.”

   “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.”

2. Easily antagonized; irascible; prone to bristling.