1. (of a person, typically one who is relatively small or weak) lively, determined, and courageous: informal"a feisty heroine who's more than a pretty face"
▪ touchy and aggressive:informal"he got a bit feisty and tried to hit me"
Word Originlate 19th century: from earlier feist, fist ‘small dog’, from fisting cur or hound, a derogatory term for a lapdog, from Middle English fist ‘break wind’, of West Germanic origin. Compare with fizzle.
