Main entry: barbed, barbellate, thorny, setaceous, setose, spiny, briary, briery, bristled, bristly, burred, burry, prickly
Definition: having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.
Usage: a horse with a short bristly mane; bristly shrubs; burred fruits; setaceous whiskers
Main entry: prickly, bristly, waspish, splenetic
Definition: very irritable
Usage: bristly exchanges between the White House and the press; he became prickly and spiteful; witty and waspish about his colleagues