Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Peevish"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Peevish \Pee"vish\, a. [OE. pevische; of uncertain origin, perh.
from a word imitative of the noise made by fretful children +
-ish.]
1. Habitually fretful; easily vexed or fretted; hard to
please; apt to complain; querulous; petulant. ``Her
peevish babe.'' --Wordsworth.
She is peevish, sullen, froward. --Shak.
2. Expressing fretfulness and discontent, or unjustifiable
dissatisfaction; as, a peevish answer.
3. Silly; childish; trifling. [Obs.]
To send such peevish tokens to a king. --Shak.
Syn: Querulous; petulant; cross; ill-tempered; testy;
captious; discontented. See {Fretful}.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
peevish
adj : easily irritated or annoyed; "an incorrigibly fractious
young man"; "not the least nettlesome of his
countrymen" [syn: {cranky}, {fractious}, {irritable}, {nettlesome},
{peckish}, {pettish}, {petulant}, {testy}, {tetchy}, {techy}]
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