needled

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of needle.

   The reporters needled the senator with pointed questions about the scandal.

   She had needled him so often that he finally lost his temper.

   Note

   A regular verb, so one -ed form does both jobs: they needled him (past) and he had been needled (participle). The teasing meaning always takes an object, so someone is needled by a rival or about a mistake. The shaping meaning can also stand without one, as when frost needled across the glass. The piercing meaning stays close to sewing and acupuncture.

2. 2
   adjective

   Covered or armored with needles, whether the slender foliage of a conifer or sharp protective spines.

   Like a porcupine's back, bristling with sharp points on every side.

   The needled boughs of the spruce brushed against the cabin windows.

   Hikers steered clear of the needled shrubs lining the narrow trail.

   Similarprickly, spiny, spiky

   Note

   An adjective built straight from the noun: something needled has needles, the way a bearded face has a beard. Hedgehogs and porcupines are needled, and so are spruce boughs. It does not take degrees, so nothing is more needled than something else. Keep it apart from the past form of the verb: a needled senator has been teased, not covered in spines.

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