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pricklymore about prickly

prickly

 

  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Prickly  \Prick"ly\,  a. 
  Full  of  sharp  points  or  prickles;  armed  or  covered  with 
  prickles;  as  a  prickly  shrub. 
 
  {Prickly  ash}  (Bot.),  a  prickly  shrub  ({Xanthoxylum 
  Americanum})  with  yellowish  flowers  appearing  with  the 
  leaves.  All  parts  of  the  plant  are  pungent  and  aromatic. 
  The  southern  species  is  {X.  Carolinianum}.  --Gray. 
 
  {Prickly  heat}  (Med.),  a  noncontagious  cutaneous  eruption  of 
  red  pimples,  attended  with  intense  itching  and  tingling  of 
  the  parts  affected.  It  is  due  to  inflammation  of  the  sweat 
  glands,  and  is  often  brought  on  by  overheating  the  skin  in 
  hot  weather. 
 
  {Prickly  pear}  (Bot.),  a  name  given  to  several  plants  of  the 
  cactaceous  genus  {Opuntia},  American  plants  consisting  of 
  fleshy,  leafless,  usually  flattened,  and  often  prickly 
  joints  inserted  upon  each  other  The  sessile  flowers  have 
  many  petals  and  numerous  stamens.  The  edible  fruit  is  a 
  large  pear-shaped  berry  containing  many  flattish  seeds. 
  The  common  species  of  the  Northern  Atlantic  States  is 
  {Opuntia  vulgaris}.  In  the  South  and  West  are  many  others 
  and  in  tropical  America  more  than  a  hundred  more  {O. 
  vulgaris},  {O.  Ficus-Indica},  and  {O.  Tuna}  are  abundantly 
  introduced  in  the  Mediterranean  region,  and  {O.  Dillenii} 
  has  become  common  in  India. 
 
  {Prickly  pole}  (Bot.),  a  West  Indian  palm  ({Bactris 
  Plumierana}),  the  slender  trunk  of  which  bears  many  rings 
  of  long  black  prickles. 
 
  {Prickly  withe}  (Bot.),  a  West  Indian  cactaceous  plant 
  ({Cereus  triangularis})  having  prickly,  slender,  climbing, 
  triangular  stems. 
 
  {Prickly  rat}  (Zo["o]l.),  any  one  of  several  species  of  South 
  American  burrowing  rodents  belonging  to  {Ctenomys}  and 
  allied  genera.  The  hair  is  usually  intermingled  with  sharp 
  spines. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  prickly 
  adj  1:  very  irritable;  "bristly  exchanges  between  the  White  House 
  and  the  press";  "he  became  prickly  and  spiteful"; 
  "witty  and  waspish  about  his  colleagues"  [syn:  {bristly}, 
  {splenetic},  {waspish}] 
  2:  having  or  covered  with  protective  barbs  or  quills  or  spines 
  or  thorns  etc.;  "a  horse  with  a  short  bristly  mane"; 
  "bristly  shrubs";  "burred  fruits"  [syn:  {barbed},  {barbellate}, 
  {briary},  {briery},  {bristled},  {bristly},  {burred},  {burry}, 
  {spiny},  {thorny}]




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