peevish
Pronunciation Adjective
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Pronunciation Adjective
peevish
- Characterized by or exhibiting petty bad temper, bad-tempered, moody, cross. [from 1520]
- circa 1599 William Shakespeare, King Henry V, act III, scene 7:
- What a wretched and peevish fellow is this king of England, to mope with his fat-brained followers so far out of his knowledge!
- 1600, William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, act I, scene 1:
- Why should a man whose blood is warme within, / Sit like his grandsire, cut in Alabaster? / […] And creep into the Iaundies / By beeing peeuish?
- I would rather figure things out on my own than ask that peevish librarian for help.
- circa 1599 William Shakespeare, King Henry V, act III, scene 7:
- Constantly complaining, whining; childishly fretful.
- 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, ch. 41:
- [T]he luckless Kitty continued in the parlour repining at her fate in terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish.
- 1938, Evelyn Waugh, Scoop, book I, ch. 2,1:
- His uncles peevishly claimed the paper.
- Peevish patients in the doctor's waiting room.
- 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, ch. 41:
- Easily annoyed, especially by things that are not important; irritable, querulous.
- 1917, P. G. Wodehouse, “The Mixer” in The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories:
- At first he was quite peevish. “What's the idea,” he said, “coming and spoiling a man's beauty-sleep? Get out.”
- 1917, P. G. Wodehouse, “The Mixer” in The Man With Two Left Feet and Other Stories:
- (obsolete, adverb) Peevishly.
- 1602, William Shakespeare, Richard III, act IV, scene 4:
- Be not peeuish fond in great designes. [1597 ‘pieuish, fond’; 1598 ‘peeuish, fond’; Malone conjectured ‘peevish-fond’, the reading adopted in many modern editions; the Arden edition prefers ‘peevish found’.].
- 1602, William Shakespeare, Richard III, act IV, scene 4:
- (obsolete, Northern England) Clever, expert. [18th c.]
- 1710, Thomas Ruddiman in Gawin Douglas, Virgil's Æneis, translated into Scottish verse (new edition), gloss (at cited word):
- The word peevish among the vulgar of Scotland is used for niggardly, covetous; in the North of England, for witty, subtile.
- 1710, Thomas Ruddiman in Gawin Douglas, Virgil's Æneis, translated into Scottish verse (new edition), gloss (at cited word):
- (obsolete, Canada, Northern England) Sharp, piercing, bitter (of the wind); windy, blustery (of the weather).
- 1744, John Armstrong, The art of preserving health: A poem, book I, v. 285 ff.:
- […] the ridge […] / […] defends you from the blust'ring north, / And bleak affliction of the peevish east.
- 1927, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Emily's Quest, p. 174:
- Something has happened to sour February's temper. Such a peevish month.
- 1744, John Armstrong, The art of preserving health: A poem, book I, v. 285 ff.:
- (mostly, obsolete) Perverse, refractory; headstrong, obstinate; capricious, skittish; (also) coy. [from c. 1400]
- 1539, Coverdale Bible (Cranmer Preface):
- Not onely foolyshe frowarde and obstinate but also peuysshe, peruerse and indurate.
- 1616, William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, act V, scene 2:
- Why, this it is, to be a peeuish Girle, / That flies her fortune when it followes her.
- 1539, Coverdale Bible (Cranmer Preface):
- (obsolete) Silly, senseless, foolish. [16th–17th c.]
- 1633, John Ford,
' Tis pitty shee's a whore, ch. 5, sig. I2v:- This is your peeuish chattering weake old man.
- 1633, John Ford,
- (obsolete) Beside oneself; out of one's senses; mad. [16th c.]
- 1523, John Skelton, A goodly garlande or chapelet of laurell, p. 266:
- Some tremblid, some girnid, some gaspid, some gasid, As people halfe peuysshe, or men that were masyd.
- 1523, John Skelton, A goodly garlande or chapelet of laurell, p. 266:
- (obsolete) Spiteful, malignant, mischievous, harmful. [16th c.]
- 1569, Richard Grafton, A chronicle at large and meere history of the affayres of Englande and kinges of the same (first edition), ch. 2, p. 176:
- In derision of the king, they made certaine peeuishe and mocking rymes which I passe ouer.
- 1601, John Marston et al., Iacke Drums entertainment, ch. II, sig. D2v:
- This crosse, this peeuish hap, / Strikes dead my spirits like a thunderclap.
- 1569, Richard Grafton, A chronicle at large and meere history of the affayres of Englande and kinges of the same (first edition), ch. 2, p. 176:
- (obsolete) Hateful, distasteful, horrid. [16th c.]
- 1563, Thomas Becon, The displaying of the Popish masse (new edition, 1637), p. 299:
- The Lords Supper and your peevish, popish private masse doe agree together..as the common proverbe is, like harpe and harrow, or like the hare and the hound.
- 1563, Thomas Becon, The displaying of the Popish masse (new edition, 1637), p. 299:
- French: maussade, geignard
- German: quengelig, gereizt, verdrossen, verdrießlich, mürrisch
- Italian: irritabile, scontroso
- Russian: ворчли́вый
- Spanish: quejica, quejicoso, alaraco, alharaquiento
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.006