Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or suggestive of a wasp.
  • adjective Easily irritated or annoyed; irascible.
  • adjective Indicative of irritation, annoyance, or spite.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Like a wasp in any way.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Resembling a wasp in form; having a slender waist, like a wasp.
  • adjective Quick to resent a trifling affront; characterized by snappishness; irritable; irascible; petulant; snappish.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Suggestive of the behaviour of a wasp.
  • adjective Spiteful or irascible.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective very irritable

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From wasp +‎ -ish.

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Examples

  • Do they not sometimes get called waspish and shrewish by virtue of their very chastity?

    Plutarch's Morals 46-120? Plutarch

  • If I were a wasp and I’ve been called waspish on occasion, I’d rather be poisoned than stuck to glue where I’ll try to escape and rip off my legs or slowly die an agonizing, slow, slow death full of pain and suffering.

    September, transmogrification and killer karma « knitnut.net 2008

  • As Martinez drove down the great spine of the Avenida de América, and on into Castellana, it hit Mulcahy full-on just like the heat had: the car horns, the waspish buzz of scooters, the hurtling, bustling sense of humanity always on the move.

    The Priest Gerard O’Donovan 2011

  • When most male observational comics are trying to come across as the kind of regular blokes you might find propping up the bar at your local, Godliman's more the waspish girl in the corner with a glass of white wine who's smarter than the lot of them put together.

    This week's new comedy 2011

  • Managing to hold his famously waspish tongue, he seemed at ease, a patron of the arts keen on charitable good works, as well as the kind of cause that many would consider lost.

    Electric Proms: Elton John and Leon Russell – review Gareth Grundy 2010

  • Even in the semi-formal surroundings of the Team GB press marquee there is a waspish chemistry between the pair, and an air of almost marital delicacy when the subject is broached of Grainger's recent outings with alternative partners during Watkins' recent injury break.

    Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins ready to put chemistry to the test 2011

  • My generation's first exposure to Agnes Moorehead wasn't her work for Orson Welles, but when she was well into her 60s and perfecting the waspish put-down of her daughter's attempts at domesticity on a weekly basis in Bewitched.

    Spotted: an older woman on screen Anne Billson 2010

  • He fell completely beyond the arc of his waspish brain and acid tongue and so he seemed utterly confused by the reception he sometimes got.

    The Grumpy Critic « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

  • When most male observational comics are trying to come across as the kind of regular blokes you might find propping up the bar at your local, Godliman's more the waspish girl in the corner with a glass of white wine who's smarter than the lot of them put together.

    This week's new comedy 2011

  • He also fancies himself a playwright, and approaches the well-heeled Mr. Dangle (Darragh Kennan) and the waspish Mr. Sneer (Jonathan Smoots), a pair of opinionated connoisseurs, in the hopes of enlisting their support for his latest effort, a tragedy called "The Spanish Armada" that ranks alongside "The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe" as the worst play ever written.

    Those Who Cannot Do… Terry Teachout 2011

Comments

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  • "A WASPISH TONGUE, MISS MURRAY, IS TO MY MIND BUT ONE OF THE MANY UNATTRACTIVE FEATURES OF THE MODERN SUFFRAGETTE" -someone to Mina Murray in 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'

    April 11, 2009

  • Also see wasp waist

    April 11, 2009

  • Is it ALL IN CAPS in the original, or is that your emphasis?

    April 11, 2009