thistly

His Scotch blood (for that he was of Scotch descent there could be no manner of doubt) gave him just the kind of thistly dignity which made every one feel that they must treat him with respect; so on that head he was assured.

Wives and Daughters Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell 1837

Don't let the thistly foliage scare you - they won't overrun your garden.

Happy Times at Sugar Creek « Sugar Creek Gardens’ Blog 2009

Fanning out a handful of blue Pelican popular philosophy books from the 1950s, one encounters on the back a series of passport-sized pictures showing granite-faced, set-jawed gentlemen in late middle age, accessorised with a pipe, a thistly tweed jacket or patent leather hair.

The Author Photo Sharon Bakar 2005

Fanning out a handful of blue Pelican popular philosophy books from the 1950s, one encounters on the back a series of passport-sized pictures showing granite-faced, set-jawed gentlemen in late middle age, accessorised with a pipe, a thistly tweed jacket or patent leather hair.

Archive 2005-10-01 Sharon Bakar 2005

There were several thistly decisions facing the Council of Lords at this gathering.

Shaman's Crossing Hobb, Robin 2005

Secure, innocent, peaceful, where then was that “thistly sorrow” that grows inevitably, so Cowper said, beside human happiness?

The Common Reader, Second Series 2004

Fred crossed the dry, thistly lawn and stopped in front of the old brick building with the flagpoles that Harvey would never let him piss on.

Asimov's Science Fiction 2004

He scuttled after him, ignoring the switching cuts of the blades and the thistly ground.

In Other Worlds Attanasio, A. A. 1984

It was a thornwing, a crumpled mass of thistly, snarled twine with a tiny hooked head at the crest of its amorphous shape.

In Other Worlds Attanasio, A. A. 1984

"His equal" is the correct answer: but even so demure and proper a support to thistly theology was to the ears that heard it as the hand of

An Englishwoman's Love-Letters Anonymous