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ornery - 3 dictionary results

or⋅ner⋅y

[awr-nuh-ree]
–adjective, -ner⋅i⋅er, -ner⋅i⋅est. Dialect.
1. ugly and unpleasant in disposition or temper: No one can get along with my ornery cousin.
2. stubborn: I can't do a thing with that ornery mule.
3. low or vile.
4. inferior or common; ordinary.

Origin:
1790–1800; contr. of ordinary


or⋅ner⋅i⋅ness, noun


1. mean, ill-tempered, ill-natured, surly, testy.
or·ner·y   (ôr'nə-rē)   
adj.   or·ner·i·er, or·ner·i·est
Mean-spirited, disagreeable, and contrary in disposition; cantankerous.

[Alteration of ordinary.]
or'ner·i·ness' n.

ornery 
1816, Amer.Eng. dialectal contraction of ordinary. "Commonplace," hence "of poor quality, coarse, ugly." By c.1860 the sense had evolved to "mean, cantankerous."
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