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Peevish

//ˈpiːvɪʃ// adj, adv

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Constantly complaining, especially in a childish way due to insignificant matters; fretful, whiny.

    "Due to the long wait, there were several peevish patients in the doctor’s waiting room."

  2. 2
    Quick to become bad-tempered or cross, especially due to insignificant matters; irritable, pettish, petulant.

    "I would rather figure things out on my own than ask that peevish librarian for help."

  3. 3
    Of weather: blustery, windy; also, of wind: cold and strong; bitter, sharp. Canada, Northern-England, figuratively

    "Serene he bears the peeviſh eaſtern blaſt, / And uninfected breaths the mortal South."

  4. 4
    Coy, modest. obsolete
  5. 5
    Foolish, silly. obsolete

    "VVhy vvhat a peeuiſh Foole vvas that of Creet [i.e., Daedalus], / That taught his Sonne [Icarus] the office of a Fovvle, / And yet for all his vvings, the Foole vvas drovvn'd."

Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    Harmful, injurious; also, mischievous; or malicious, spiteful. obsolete

    "[The Scots] brent ſome of the English Shippes. With the which victory, they were ſo inflamed with pride, that in deriſion of the king, they made certaine peeuiſhe and mocking rymes vvhich I paſſe ouer."

  2. 7
    Impulsive and unpredictable; capricious, fickle. obsolete

    "[T]heſe women be all ſuche madde pieuiſhe elues / They will not be wonne except it pleaſe them ſelues."

  3. 8
    Obstinately in the wrong; perverse, stubborn. obsolete

    "But ſuche as will perſyſt ſtyll in theyr wylfulneſſe, I muſt nedes iudge not only foliſhe, froward and obstynate: but also peuiſhe, peruerſe and indurate."

  4. 9
    Out of one's mind; mad. obsolete

    "The dredfull dinne droue all the rowte on a rowe; / Some tremblid, some girnid, some gaspid, some gasid, / As people halfe peuysshe, or men that were masyd."

  5. 10
    Of a thing: evoking a feeling of distaste, horror, etc. obsolete

    "The Lords Supper and your peeviſh, popiſh private maſſe doe agree together like God and the divell, Chriſt and Beliall, light and darkneſſe, truth and falſehood, […]"

  6. 11
    Clever, skilful. Northern-England, obsolete

    "The word peeviſh among the vulgar of Scotland is uſed for niggardly, covetous; in the North of England, for vvitty, ſubtile."

Adjective
  1. 1
    easily irritated or annoyed wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    Synonym of peevishly (“in a peevish manner: whiningly; irritably, petulantly; etc.”). not-comparable, obsolete

    "She was not halfe so wyse / As she was peuysshe nyse."

Etymology

Etymology 1

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English pievish, peuysche, pevish, pevysh (“capricious, wilful; perverse, wayward”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from one of the following: * From an unattested Old French word, from Latin perversus (“corrupted, perverted, subverted; overthrown”), the perfect passive participle of pervertō (“to corrupt, subvert; to overthrow”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘intensively, thoroughly’) + vertō (“to turn; to turn upside down, overturn, overthrow, subvert”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to rotate; to turn”)). However, the Oxford English Dictionary says this derivation “presents some formal difficulties”. * From Middle French *expaive + -ish (similar to; somewhat, rather). *Expaive is an unattested variant of Middle French espave, Old French espave (“(adjective) of an animal: stray; of a person: foreign; (noun) flotsam; lost property”) (referring to the behaviour of stray animals; modern French épave), from Latin expavidus (“extremely frightened or horrified”), from ex- (intensifying prefix) + pavidus (“fearful, terrified; quaking, trembling; shy, timid”) (from paveō (“to be afraid; fear; to quake or tremble with fear”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *paw- (“to hit, strike”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives)). The adverb is derived from the adjective.

Etymology 2

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English pievish, peuysche, pevish, pevysh (“capricious, wilful; perverse, wayward”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from one of the following: * From an unattested Old French word, from Latin perversus (“corrupted, perverted, subverted; overthrown”), the perfect passive participle of pervertō (“to corrupt, subvert; to overthrow”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘intensively, thoroughly’) + vertō (“to turn; to turn upside down, overturn, overthrow, subvert”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to rotate; to turn”)). However, the Oxford English Dictionary says this derivation “presents some formal difficulties”. * From Middle French *expaive + -ish (similar to; somewhat, rather). *Expaive is an unattested variant of Middle French espave, Old French espave (“(adjective) of an animal: stray; of a person: foreign; (noun) flotsam; lost property”) (referring to the behaviour of stray animals; modern French épave), from Latin expavidus (“extremely frightened or horrified”), from ex- (intensifying prefix) + pavidus (“fearful, terrified; quaking, trembling; shy, timid”) (from paveō (“to be afraid; fear; to quake or tremble with fear”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *paw- (“to hit, strike”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives)). The adverb is derived from the adjective.

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