THORNY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Thorny

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/θˈɔrni/ Listen

adjective

Thorny adj. (compar. thornier; superl. thorniest)

Full of thorns or spines; rough with thorns; spiny; as, a thorny wood; a thorny tree; a thorny crown.

Like a thorn or thorns; hence, figuratively, troublesome; vexatious; harassing; perplexing. "The thorny point of bare distress." "The steep and thorny way to heaven."

Thorny rest-harrow (Bot.), rest-harrow.

Thorny trefoil, a prickly plant of the genus Fagonia (Fagonia Cretica, etc.).

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Etymology of 'Thorny'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Thorny" Quotes from Famous Books

... readers are disturbed by this thorny question, I beg leave to recommend, to them Letter 69 of Montesquieu's Lettres Persanes; and the late Mr. John Palmer of Islington's Answer to Dr. Priestley's mechanical arguments for what he absurdly calls 'Philosophical Necessity.' ...

— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 3 • Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill

... upon a thorny waste; Hot noontide lies on all the way, And with its scorching breath makes haste Each freshening dawn to burn and slay, Yet patiently I bide and stay: Knowing the secret of my fate, The hour of bloom, dear Lord, ...

— Verses • Susan Coolidge

... childhood again—bright and tender childhood, which dowers our after life with so many tender, mournful, happy memorials;—whose breezes fan our weary brows so often as we go on over the thorny path, once a path of flowers. They were once more children, and they wandered thus through the beautiful forest, collecting their memories, laughing here, sighing there—and giving an association or a word to every feature of ...

— The Last of the Foresters • John Esten Cooke

... returning to civilisation through a safe road; as it was, Gabriel, Roche, and I resumed our journey alone. During two or three days we followed the edge of the wood, every attempt to penetrate into the interior proving quite useless, so thick were the bushes and thorny briars. Twice or thrice we perceived on some hills, at a great distance, smoke and fires, but we could not tell what Indians ...

— Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet • Captain Marryat

... little harebells o'er the lee; Ye stately foxgloves fair to see; Ye woodbines hanging bonnilie, In scented bow'rs; Ye roses on your thorny tree. ...

— Language of Flowers • Kate Greenaway

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