a. [f. STARTLE v. + -ISH.] Easily startled; apt to take fright; esp. said of a horse. Hence Startlishness.
1740. Dyche & Pardon, Dict. (ed. 3), Startlish [ed. 1735 Startish] or Startly.
1807. Southey, Espriella’s Lett. (1814), II. 273. Both were spirited beasts…;—both were startlish, and the mare vicious. Ibid., III. 339. All night I remained wakeful—not in that state of feverish startlishness which the expectation of an early call occasions, but [etc.].
1836. Blackw. Mag., XL. 618. The cab-horse had exhibited symptoms of startlishness.
1863. Mrs. H. Wood, Verner’s Pride, II. xiii. 169. The sudden entrance startled her, albeit she was not of a startlish temperament.
