Thorn"y (?), a. [Compar. Thornier (?); superl. Thorniest.] [Cf. AS. þorniht.]
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.
"The
thorny point of bare distress."
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.).
© Webster 1913.