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  1. surly love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Sullenly ill-humored; gruff.
  2. adj. Threatening, as of weather conditions; ominous: surly clouds filled the sky.
  3. adj. Obsolete Arrogant; domineering.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Sour in nature or disposition; morose; crabbed; churlish; ill-natured; cross and rude: as, a surly fellow; a surly dog.
  2. Arrogant; haughty.
  3. Rough; dark; tempestuous; gloomy; dismal.
  4. Synonyms Cross, crusty, snappish, uncivil.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. obsolete Lordly, arrogant, supercilious.
  2. adj. Irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly.
  3. adj. Threatening, menacing, gloomy.
  4. adv. obsolete In an arrogant or supercilious manner.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. obsolete Arrogant; haughty.
  2. adj. Gloomily morose; ill-natured, abrupt, and rude; severe; sour; crabbed; rough; sullen; gloomy.
  3. adj. Rough; dark; tempestuous.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. inclined to anger or bad feelings with overtones of menace

Etymologies

  1. Sixteenth-century alteration of sirly, from sir + -ly. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English sirly, masterful, lordly, from sir, lord; see sir. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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,”

    NewsBlaze.com Current News - Top Stories

  • “Sam swiped his hands through the tight curls on his head, his expression surly.”

    Simon & Schuster: Family Blessings

  • “* 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.”

    The Washington Post: The surprising San Francisco Giants

  • “I called surly strangers in Ohio and hate-filled racists in Pennsylvania,”

    THE BROKEN THREAD

  • “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.”

    The Dealer's Take: The Customer is Often Wrong

  • “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.”

    The Dealer's Take: The Customer is Often Wrong

  • “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.”

    Simon & Schuster: Closing Time

  • “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”

    WN.com - Articles related to From a House Beautiful

  • “A certain surly old littérateur tells me that he prefers these wretched versions to Mr. Payne’s.”

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night

  • “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.”

    Comic-Con: Tony Almeida is back (again!) on '24' | EW.com

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘surly’.

Comments

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  • 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

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‘surly’ has been looked up 4534 times, loved by 9 people, added to 98 lists, commented on 8 times, and has a Scrabble score of 8.