Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Sullenly ill-humored; gruff.
- adj. Threatening, as of weather conditions; ominous: surly clouds filled the sky.
- adj. Obsolete Arrogant; domineering.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Sour in nature or disposition; morose; crabbed; churlish; ill-natured; cross and rude: as, a surly fellow; a surly dog.
- Arrogant; haughty.
- Rough; dark; tempestuous; gloomy; dismal.
- Synonyms Cross, crusty, snappish, uncivil.
Wiktionary
- adj. Lordly, arrogant, supercilious.
- adj. Irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly.
- adj. Threatening, menacing, gloomy.
- adv. In an arrogant or supercilious manner.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Arrogant; haughty.
- adj. Gloomily morose; ill-natured, abrupt, and rude; severe; sour; crabbed; rough; sullen; gloomy.
- adj. Rough; dark; tempestuous.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. inclined to anger or bad feelings with overtones of menace
Etymologies
- Middle English sirly, masterful, lordly, from sir, lord; see sir.
Examples
“In no way a cuddly cowboy Woody, Josh Brolin as the title surly supernatural gunslinger is a very different kind of settler dodging bullets across the wild west, or rather deep south, settling old scores and new ones that may not have even arrived,”
“Sam swiped his hands through the tight curls on his head, his expression surly.”
“* I hadn't spent a considerable amount of time around this team since the summer of 2007, when a certain surly left fielder was taking aim at the all-time home run record, and let's suffice it to say the clubhouse is very different now.”
“I called surly strangers in Ohio and hate-filled racists in Pennsylvania,”
“But no matter what price you get on a firearm, Scott, his unnamed and nasty brother, and certain surly staff members including "Derek" always leaves me with the impression that I was either cheated or manhandled by unwashed hands.”
“But no matter what price you get on a firearm, Scott, his unnamed and nasty brother, and certain surly staff members including" Derek "always leaves me with the impression that I was either cheated or manhandled by unwashed hands.”
“In silence, and with an expression of surly disappointment, Noodles was regretting once more that he and his third wife, Carmen, with whom he was in the throes of a bitter divorce, were no longer on speaking terms.”
“By ANN LANDI In photographs, Tim Burton looks the part of the goth filmmaker: rumpled and slightly menacing, his grizzled locks untamed, his expression surly behind a barricade of”
“A certain surly old littérateur tells me that he prefers these wretched versions to Mr. Payne’s.”
“Perhaps he should have asked for their patience because he and several of the 24 writers — all of whom participated in a panel at Comic-Con — are going to try it in the upcoming season: Carlos Bernard, aka the surly Tony Almeida, will come back to life.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘surly’.
jorge999
'...I awaken bright and surly.'
--jorge999 Nov 4, 2009
bilby Nae. Dec 8, 2007
sonofgroucho You made that up, didn't you? Dec 8, 2007
bilby From sirly in Middle English meaning 'like a lord or a sir'. Dec 7, 2007
sonofgroucho Spot on! Dec 7, 2007
reesetee I'm not joking. And stop calling me Surly. Dec 7, 2007
bilby Surly in the morning for words like this. Dec 7, 2007
sonofgroucho As opposed to surely... Dec 7, 2007