Word of the Day

Friday, December 07, 2007

surly

\SUR-lee\ , adjective;

Ill-humored; churlish in manner or mood; sullen and gruff.

Menacing or threatening in appearance, as of weather conditions; ominous.

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Quotes:

Voters may be turned off by candidates who play dirty, but nothing gets a campaign reporter going like the smell of blood on the trail. Part of it has to do with boredom: journalists can only listen for so long to a candidate blather on about "a world of possibilities guided by goodness" before they get surly.

-- Michelle Cottle, "Nice Try", New Republic, February 14, 2000

Maggie drank a little too much and got surly and made snide comments during the final toast.

-- John L'Heureux, Having Everything

Origin:

Surly is from Middle English sirly, "lordly," from sir, "lord," which eventually came to mean "arrogant or haughty," whence the more negative modern sense.