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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Surly \Sur"ly\, adjective [Compar. {Surlier}; superl. {Surliest}.] [Probably from sir, and originally meaning, sirlike, i.e., proud. See {Sir}, and {Like}, adjective]
1. Arrogant; haughty. [Obs.] --Cotgrave.
2. Gloomily morose; ill-natured, abrupt, and rude; severe; sour; crabbed; rough; sullen; gloomy; as, a surly groom; a surly dog; surly language; a surly look. ''That surly spirit, melancholy.'' --Shak.
3. Rough; dark; tempestuous.
Now softened into joy the surly storm. --Thomson.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
surly
adjective: inclined to anger or bad feelings with overtones of menace; "a surly waiter"; "an ugly frame of mind" [syn: {ugly}] [also: {surliest}, {surlier}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
81 Moby Thesaurus words for "surly": abrupt, aggressive, argumentative, bad-tempered, bearish, beastly, beetle-browed, bilious, black, black-browed, bluff, blunt, boorish, brash, brusque, cantankerous, cavalier, choleric, churlish, crabbed, crabby, cross, crotchety, crusty, curt, dark, dejected, discourteous, dour, dumpish, dyspeptic, fractious, frowning, glowering, glum, grim, grouchy, gruff, grum, grumpy, harsh, ill-humored, ill-mannered, ill-natured, ill-tempered, irritable, lowering, melancholy, moodish, moody, mopey, moping, mopish, morose, mumpish, obnoxious, obstreperous, peevish, quarrelsome, rough, rude, saturnine, scowling, severe, sharp, short, short-tempered, snappish, snippy, splenetic, sulky, sullen, temperamental, testy, touchy, truculent, ugly, uncivil, ungracious, unpleasant, waspish
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |