bristly

«bristly» in Mova's school dictionary: Covered with short, stiff hairs — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (bristly, bristlier, bristliest)

meaning for a pupil

1) Covered with short, stiff hairs. tree →

2) Stiff and rough like bristles. tree →

3) (informal) Easily annoyed or quick to get angry. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, hedgehogs, pigs and some caterpillars are bristly. In everyday life, Dad's chin is bristly before he shaves. In stories, a bristly old man may be grumpy.

examples

• Dad's chin is bristly in the morning. tree →
• A hedgehog's back is bristly. tree →
• The new brush is very bristly. tree →
• The caterpillar had bristly hairs – don't touch it! tree →
• The headteacher was a bit bristly today. tree →

note

Comparative bristlier, bristliest. Some bristly caterpillars cause itchy rashes.

In the corpora

• In the shopping centre, look down at the sides of the escalator steps: there are bristly brushes there.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «bristly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.