From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
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,
prickly, splenetic, waspish]
2: 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" [syn:
barbed, barbellate, briary, briery, bristled,
bristly, burred, burry, prickly, setose,
setaceous, spiny, thorny]