Read the dictionary definition of prickly. All definitions for this word.
1. having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.
1. a horse with a short bristly mane
2. bristly shrubs
3. burred fruits
4. setaceous whiskers
2. very irritable
1. bristly exchanges between the White House and the press
2. he became prickly and spiteful
3. witty and waspish about his colleagues