nappier

Adjective (1)

nappy (comparative nappier, superlative nappiest)

1. Having a nap (of cloth etc.); downy; shaggy.
   • The original accused device, as was the patented device, was made of cotton flannel with a nappy surface on each side, […] .1950, US District Courts, US Court of Claims, US Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, Federal Supplement, Volume 89, page 438
2. (US, informal, offensive, sometimes) Of hair: tightly curled or twisted; frizzy (often specifically in reference to Afro textured hair)
   • They could scarcely bear their knowledge, nor could they have borne the sight of Rufus, but they knew why he was in the streets tonight, why he rode subways all night long, why his stomach growled, why his hair was nappy, his armpits funky, his pants and shoes too thin, and why he did not dare to...1962, James Baldwin, Another Country, New York, N. Y.: The Dial Press, published January 1963, page 4

   Synonyms:

   kinky, frizzy, fuzzy, woolly, fuzzy-headed, wool-headed, wool-pated, woolly-headed, Afro-textured

3. (rare) Inclined to sleep; sleepy.
   • After supper I felt nappy and dropped right off to sleep.1930, Hubert Evans, H. E. M. Sellen, The Silent Call, page 90

Adjective (2)

nappy (comparative nappier, superlative nappiest)

1. Foamy; having a large head.
2. Nervous, excitable.
   • ‘He's a mutton-fisted beggar; but the horse is a bit nappy, and young Roger'll be the man to keep him going at his fences.’1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 161

Adjective (3)

nappy (comparative nappier, superlative nappiest)

1. (Scotland) Brittle.

See all 10 meanings of nappy