cactusy

English

Alternative forms

• cactussy

Etymology

cactus +‎ -y

Adjective

cactusy (comparative more cactusy, superlative most cactusy)

1. (informal) Cactuslike, prickly.

   My chest feels cactusy.

   • 2004, Mariella Ienna, Flowers at home, page 162:

     The spines on aloe vera look cactusy, but they are really faux spines and not likely to prick you at all.

2. Featuring a cactus or cacti.

   Synonym: cactused

   • 1935 July, “Secrets of Success”, in Popular Science, volume 127, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Publishing Co., Inc., page 98, column 2:

     Of all the God-forsaken, sandy, cactusy desert regions, my habitat takes the cake.

   • 1993, Chris Doyle, The Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands, 3rd edition, Dunedin, Fla.: Cruising Guide Publications, Inc., →ISBN, page 239, column 1:

     This perfectly charming little hideaway winds back between cactusy hills and is currently so deserted that you will see more goats and birds than people.

   • 2007, Alysia Gray Painter, “Do You Take This Norwegian Elkhound?”, in Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit, New York, N.Y.: Three Rivers Press, →ISBN, page 196:

     I spent the close of the 1970s presiding over the marriages of just about every dog to every other dog in the cactusy desert north of Tucson.