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testily. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
testily, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
testily in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From testy + -ly.
Adverb
testily (comparative more testily, superlative most testily)
- In a testy way; in the manner of someone who is testy.
1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XXXIII, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. , 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 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, published 1965, →OCLC, page 43:"Sit ye down, I'm sayin'," said Uncle Jobson testily.
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.
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