testily
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
Adverb
[edit]testily (comparative more testily, superlative most testily)
- In a testy way; in the manner of someone who is testy.
- 1847, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XXXIII, in Jane Eyre, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:
- […] thinking it urgent to say something, I asked him presently if he felt any cold draught from the door, which was behind him.
"No, no!" he responded shortly and somewhat testily.
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
- `We have been looking for a mystery, and we certainly seem to have found one.' `What do I make of it? Why, that your poor dear father was off his head, of course,' I answered, testily.
- 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 43:
- "Sit ye down, I'm sayin'," said Uncle Jobson testily.
- 1942 January 31, The Voice, Hobart, page 5, column 2:
- “Starve? Stuff and nonsense!” he retorted testily. “No able-bodied fellow need starve nowadays. [...] Pshaw! Starve! That's always your, cuckoo cry!”
- 1995, Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: a Trilogy in Five Parts, →ISBN, page 458:
- 'Oh, for heaven's sake,' said Prak and died testily.