the.com/feisty
small thing, big spirit, zero interest in being told to calm down
means Spirited, scrappy, and quick to bristle — full of pluck and ready to fight even when outsized.
from From American English of the 19th century, built on the older dialect word 'feist' (also 'fist'), meaning a small, snappish dog. That in turn traces back to the wonderfully blunt phrase 'fisting hound' or 'fisting cur' — where 'fisting' came from an Old English word for breaking wind. So the little yappy dog was, quite literally, the smelly one. The dog's nervy, can't-sit-still temperament transferred to people, and the indelicate origin was politely forgotten.
- surprising root
- comes from an old word for a small farting dog
- size note
- almost always describes someone underestimated for being little
- compliment?
- praise and warning wearing the same coat
- energy
- the chihuahua that has never once backed down
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