1300-1400Anglo-Frenchtestif ‘determined to do what you want’, from Old Frenchteste ‘head’
Examples
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
By the end of the day everyone was getting a little testy.
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
He was testy during media day Tuesday and cut his session off after 15 minutes.
Instead of handing over the test, the testy proctor grabbed the gun.
Oh, a little testy this morning, are we?
The tired theatrics of Super Bowl week have begun and players on both teams are getting a little testy.
The two men enjoy the testy togetherness of married partners.
Yet the press conferences introducing these models were often testy affairs.
impatient and easily annoyedSYN irritable: testy remarks It had been a long day, and Sarah was getting a little testy.—testily adverb—testiness noun [uncountable]