1) Barbellate 2) Briary 3) Briery 4) Bristled 5) Burred 6) Burry 7) Prickly 8) Setaceous 9) Setal 10) Setose 11) Spiky 12) Spiny 13) Stubbly 14) Waspish 15) Wirehaired 1) Cross 2) Easily antagonized 3) Easily provoked 4) Exclusively Saxon word 5) Exclusively Anglo word 6) Hairy 7) Ill-natured 8) Irascible 9) Like or resembling bristles 10) Prickly 11) Quick to anger 12) Short stiff hair 13) Splenetic 14) Unkempt 15) Unshaven 16) Very irritable 17) Waspish 18) Word with Anglo-Saxon origins 
• (a.) Thick set with bristles, or with hairs resembling bristles; rough.
With stiff hairs or bristles.
Bris'tly adjective Thick set with bristles, or with hairs resembling bristles; rough. « The leaves of the black mulberry are somewhat bristly . Bacon. » 
Bearing stiff strong hairs or bristles.
[adj] - very irritable
prickly adjective very irritable; `bristly exchanges between the White House and the press`; `he became prickly and spiteful`; `witty and waspish about his colleagues`
covered or rough with bristles. · like or resembling bristles. · easily antagonized; irascible: a bristly person with few friends.