WASPISH


Meaning of WASPISH in English

-pish, -pēsh adjective

Etymology: wasp (I) + -ish

1.

a. : resembling a wasp in behavior ; especially : easily irritated : quick to take offence : snappish , testy

witty and waspish and said whatever came into his head about his colleagues — Frank O'Connor

his answers were crisp, though he could become waspish when annoyed — H.F. & Katharine Pringle

b. : marked by irritability or petulance

the fourth-raters who use a staff captain's armlet as an excuse for waspish display of minor power — Fred Majdalany

2. : resembling a wasp in form ; especially : slightly built

the grim, black spars and waspish hull of a small man-of-war craft — Herman Melville

Synonyms: see irritable

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.