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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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]
WordNet (r) 2.0
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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
surlier, surliest, ugly
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