| 单词 |
cantankerous |
| 释义 |
cantankerous, a. colloq.|kænˈtæŋkərəs|
Also 8 cantanckerous.
[Said by Grose, who spells it contankerous, to be a Wiltshire word. This spelling gives some support to the conjecture that the word was formed on ME. contak, conteke, contention, quarrelling, contekour, conteckour one who raises strife, whence *conteckerous, *contakerous would be a possible deriv. like traitorous, which might subseq. be corrupted under influence of words like cankerous, rancorous. Its oddly appropriate sound, and perh. some assoc. with these words, have given it general colloquial currency.]
Showing an ill-natured disposition; ill-conditioned and quarrelsome, perverse, cross-grained.
1772Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii, There's not a more bitter cantanckerous road in all christendom. 1775Sheridan Rivals v. iii, I hope, Mr. Faulkland..you won't be so cantanckerous. 1842Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. ix. 142 As cantankerous and humorous as Cassius himself. 1865Livingstone Zambesi ix. 195 A crusty old bachelor or..a cantankerous husband. 1873St. Paul's Mag. i. 533 A cantankerous element in his nature.
Hence canˈtankerously adv., canˈtankerousness.
1868A. K. H. Boyd Lessons Mid. Age 217 One impracticable, stupid, wrongheaded, and cantankerously foolish person of the twelve. 1876Mrs. H. Wood Orville Coll. 411 You have behaved cantankerously to him. 1881A. R. Hope in Boy's Own Paper 10 Sept. 794 The roller had crushed the cantankerousness right out of him. 1886Chr. Life 2 Jan. 2/6 A member..expelled for general cantankerousness. |
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单词 cantanker 释义 † cantanker Obs. nonce-wd.[A back formation from cantanker-ous, like ......