grouchy
adj/ˈɡɹaʊt͡ʃi/
Etymology US 1895. From grouch + -y. Originally US college student slang.
1
Irritable; easily upset; angry; tending to complain.
- His boss gets grouchy when deadlines draw near.
- Not that young Pat had a nasty temper, or was grouchy as his father had feared.1911, Jack London, chapter III, in The Abysmal Brute:
2 more examples
- He went in to mumble that he was "sorry, didn't mean to be grouchy," and to inquire as to her interest in movies.1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XXXI, in Babbitt:
- In Berlin I once heard Susie Clemens—ill-fated, talented girl, who died so young—say to her father: "Grouchy again! They do say that you can be funny when company is around—too bad that you don't consider Henry Fisher company."1922, Henry William Fischer, “Author's Preface”, in Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field:
- Derived terms
- grouchies, grouchily, grouchiness, ungrouchy
- Related terms
- grouch