[f. THORNY + -NESS.] Thorny quality or condition, prickliness; fig. acerbity of manner, roughness, ruggedness.
1674. R. Godfrey, Inj. & Ab. Physic, 87. The Thornyness, or bad Character imprinted on the stomach,… might be obliterated.
1721. Bailey, Spinosity, thorniness, difficulty.
1868. A. R. Wallace, Malay Archip., 258. The most characteristic feature of the jungle was its thorniness.
1895. Current Hist. (Buffalo, N.Y.), V. 753. The historian’s rude sallies and general thorniness.
1906. Athenæum, 7 July, 5/2. The thorniness of metre which this poet shares with Browning.
