cantankerous

英 [kæn'tæŋk(ə)rəs] 美[kæn'tæŋkərəs]

英英释义实用场景例句

GRE

cantankerous 坏脾气的

可能来自contentious和raucous的合成词。或来自于cantan, 鸭叫声，见canary, -ker, 狗叫声，见cur, curmudgeon.

1. stubbornly obstructive and unwilling to cooperate;: "unions...have never been as bloody-minded about demarcation as the shipbuilders"- Spectator

2. having a difficult and contrary disposition;: "a cantankerous and venomous-tongued old lady"- Dorothy Sayers

cantankerous: cantankerous: [18] Cantankerous is a rather mysterious word. It first appears in the 1770s, and the earliest known reference to it is in Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer 1772: ‘There’s not a more bitter cantanckerous road in all christendom’. Its origin is disputed: perhaps the likeliest source is Middle English contekour ‘brawler’, from contek ‘strife’, a borrowing from an unrecorded Anglo-Norman *contek, but an Irish origin has also been suggested, perhaps from Irish cannrán ‘strife, grumbling’ (another early user of the word was the Irish playwright Thomas Sheridan).
cantankerous (adj.): 1772, said to be "a Wiltshire word," probably from an alteration (influenced by raucous) of Middle English contakour "troublemaker" (c. 1300), from Anglo-French contec "discord, strife," from Old French contechier (Old North French contekier), from con- "with" + teche, related to atachier "hold fast" (see attach). With -ous. Related: Cantankerously; cantankerousness.

This " troubleshooter " listened and let the cantankerous customer enjoy himself pouring out his tirade.: 这位 [ 调解员 ] 去那里后,静静听着.尽量让这位好争论的老先生,发泄他满肚子的牢骚.

Mrs Letouzel, you cantankerous old bag , what do you mean, by complaining about your money!: 累托兹太太, 你这个老泼妇, 你为你的钱叫苦连天,这究竟是什么意思!

The cantankerous bus driver rouse on the children for singing.: 那个坏脾气的公共汽车司机因为孩子们唱歌而骂他们.

And for the bruised and cantankerous American psyche, it could not come at a worse time.: 对于目前美国伤痕累累和暴躁的精神状态, 这次的事件发生的时机真是再坏不过了.