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Fig.: Resembling a thistle or thistles; sharp; pricking. In such a world, so thorny, and where none Finds happiness unblighted, or, if found, Without some thistly sorrow at its side. Cowper.

A hard and sharp-pointed projection from a woody stem; usually, a branch so transformed; a spine.

rilliantly colored American birds of the genus Rhamphomicron. They have a long, slender, sharp bill, and feed upon honey, insects, and the juice of the sugar cane.

To pierce, as something sharp; to penetrate; especially, to cause a tingling sensation that runs through the system with a slight shivering; as, a sharp sound thrills through the whole frame. I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins. Shak.

Piercing; sharp; thrilling. [Obs.] "His thrillant spear." Spenser.

A sharp burst of thunder; a sudden report of a discharge of atmospheric electricity. "Thunderclaps that make them quake." Spenser. When suddenly the thunderclap was heard. Dryden.

A sharp sound, as of a bell; a tinkling.

To feel a sharp, thrilling pain. The pale boy senator yet tingling stands. Pope.

To make a sharp, shrill noise; to tinkle. Wyclif (1 Cor. xiii. 1).

To make, or give forth, small, quick, sharp sounds, as a piece of metal does when struck; to clink. As sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Cor. xiii. 1. The sprightly horse Moves to the music of his tinkling bells. Dodsley.

The point or extremity of anything; a pointed or somewhat sharply rounded end; the end; as, the tip of the finger; the tip of a spear. To the very tip of the nose. Shak.

To seize, pull, and tear prey, as a hawk does. [Obs.] Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast, Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh, and bone. Shak. Ye dregs of baseness, vultures among men, That tire upon the hearts of generous spirits. B. Jonson.

An old form of piece for the organ or harpsichord, somewhat in the free and brilliant style of the prelude, fantasia, or capriccio.

dress; -- usually with out, implying care, elaborateness, or the like. [Colloq. or Slang] Harper's Weekly.

Two rods or plates connected by a toggle joint. Toggle iron, a harpoon with a pivoted crosspiece in a mortise near the point to prevent it from being drawn out when a whale, shark, or other animal, is harpooned. -- Toggle joint, an elbow or knee joint, consisting of two bars so connected that they may be brought quite…

manipulate; to play on; as, to touch an instrument of music. [They] touched their golden harps. Milton.

. [Colloq.] The prey of ring droppers, . . . duffers, touters, or any of those bloodless sharpers who are, perhaps, better known to the police. Dickens.

Acute; sharp; as, a treble sound. Bacon.

Fitted to trench or cut; gutting; sharp. " Trenchant was the blade." Chaucer.

In a trenchant, or sharp, manner; sharply; severely.