abristle

[uh-bris-uhl]

adverb

1. in a bristling state.

   an angry dog with its hairs abristle.

Word History and Origins

Origin of abristle¹

First recorded in 1915–20; a- ¹ + bristle

Example Sentences

The Maine, a 7,000-ton armor-plated vessel, 324 feet long and abristle with cannon, was the second American battleship.

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But our world is abristle with phalluses and has been for at least half a billion years.

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Right ahead of them the sea was all abristle with what, to his quick amazed glance, looked like the bones and ribs of multitudinous ships, the ruins of a veritable Armada.

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To Wulfrey, from water-level, the sea ahead seemed all abristle with shipping, as thick, he thought to himself, as the docks at Liverpool.

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They curved gloriously to their fall with a glint of muddy green below and all their crests abristle with white foam-fury.

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