thorny : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: thorny	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for thorny
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
thorny adj bristling with perplexities; "the thorny question of states' rights" 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" Synonym(s): barbed, barbellate, briary, briery, bristled, bristly, burred, burry, prickly, setose, setaceous, spiny, thorny
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Thorny \Thorn"y\, a. [Compar. {Thornier}; superl. {Thorniest}.] [Cf. AS. [thorn]orniht.] 1. Full of thorns or spines; rough with thorns; spiny; as, a thorny wood; a thorny tree; a thorny crown. 2. Like a thorn or thorns; hence, figuratively, troublesome; vexatious; harassing; perplexing. [bd]The thorny point of bare distress.[b8] --Shak. The steep and thorny way to heaven. --Shak. {Thorny rest-harrow} (Bot.), rest-harrow. {Thorny trefoil}, a prickly plant of the genus {Fagonia} ({F. Cretica}, etc.).