BRISTLED
barbed, barbellate, briary, briery, bristled, bristly, burred, burry, prickly, setose, setaceous, spiny, thorny
(adjective) having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.; “a horse with a short bristly mane”; “bristly shrubs”; “burred fruits”; “setaceous whiskers”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
bristled
simple past tense and past participle of bristle
Adjective
bristled (comparative more bristled, superlative most bristled)
Having bristles
Anagrams
• birdlets, bridlest, driblets, streblid
Source: Wiktionary
BRISTLE
Bris"tle, n. Etym: [OE. bristel, brustel, AS. bristl, byrst; akin to
D. borstel, OHG. burst, G. borste, Icel. burst, Sw. borst, and to
Skr. bh edge, point, and prob, L. fastigium extremity, Gr. brush,
burr, perh. to brad. sq. root96.]
1. A short, stiff, coarse hair, as on the back of swine.
2. (Bot.)
Definition: A stiff, sharp, roundish hair. Gray.
Bris"tle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bristled; p. pr. & vb. n. Bristling.]
1. To erect the bristles of; to cause to stand up, as the bristles of
an angry hog; -- sometimes with up.
Now for the bare-picked bone of majesty Doth dogged war bristle his
angry crest. Shak.
Boy, bristle thy courage up. Shak.
2. To fix a bristle to; as, to bristle a thread.
Bris"tle, v. i.
1. To rise or stand erect, like bristles.
His hair did bristle upon his head. Sir W. Scott.
2. To appear as if covered with bristles; to have standing, thick and
erect, like bristles.
The hill of La Haye Sainte bristling with ten thousand bayonets.
Thackeray.
Ports bristling with thousands of masts. Macaulay.
3. To show deflance or indignation. To bristle up, to show anger or
deflance.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition