Surly

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Surly \Sur"ly\ (s[^u]r"l[y^]), a. [Compar. {Surlier}
     (s[^u]r"l[i^]*[~e]r); superl. {Surliest}.] [Probably from
     sir, and originally meaning, sirlike, i.e., proud. See {Sir},
     and {Like}, a.]
     1. Arrogant; haughty. [Obs.] --Cotgrave.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Rough; dark; tempestuous.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Now softened into joy the surly storm. --Thomson.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  surly
       adj : 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