Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Thorny

Thorny , adjective

[Compare Anglo-Saxon þorniht.]

1.
Full of thorns or spines; rough with thorns; spiny; as, a thorny wood; a thorny tree; a thorny crown.
2.
Like a thorn or thorns; hence, figuratively, troublesome; vexatious; harassing; perplexing.
The thorny point of bare distress. — Shakespeare
The steep and thorny way to heaven. — Shakespeare
Collocations (2)
Thorny rest-harrow (Botany) , rest-harrow.
Thorny trefoil , a prickly plant of the genus Fagonia (Fagonia Cretica, etc.).