bristly
adj/ˈbɹɪsli/
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.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 285:
- 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:
2
Easily antagonized; irascible; prone to bristling.