Peevish

VVhy ſhould a man vvhoſe blood is vvarme vvithin, / Sit like his Grandſire, cut in Alabaſter? / Sleepe vvhen he vvakes? and creepe into the Iaundies / By beeing peeuiſh?

VVhat a vvretched and peeuiſh fellow is this King of England, to mope vvith his fat-brain'd follovvers ſo farre out of his knovvledge.

Gods providence on purpoſe permitted Moſes to fall into this peeviſh paſſion, to manifeſt the vaſt difference betvveen humane and Divine meekneſs.

Some men faſt to mortifie their luſt, and their faſting makes them peeviſh: […]

Since you are ready to take up reports, and to judge ſo raſhly as you do; I cannot but conclude you are ſome peeviſh, or melancholy Man, not fit to be diſcourſed vvith; and ſo adieu.

At first he was quite peevish. "What's the idea," he said, "coming and spoiling a man's beauty-sleep? Get out."

Something has happened to sour February's temper. Such a peevish month. […] A dreary snowstorm is raging and the wind is pursuing tormented wreaths over the hills.

They used to tell one about a kid asking his grumpy old man when they were walking to the park, 'What's the name of this flower, Papa?' And the old guy is peevish and he yells, 'How should I know? Am I in the millinery business?'

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

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.

Confuſion take ſuch dotage, 'tis but forg'd, / This is your peeuiſh chattering vveake old man.

[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.

Ile home, and ſtarue, this croſſe, this peeuiſh hap, / Strikes dead my ſpirits like a thunderclap.

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

VVhy this it is, to be a peeuiſh Girle, / That flies her fortune vvhen it follovves her: […]

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.

Nothing is ſo great an enemie to a ſounde iudgment, as the pride of a péeuiſh conceit, which cauſeth a man both in life and beliefe, either to ſnatch vppe or hatch newfangles.

But, the main end for vvhich this deſert may ſeem ordained, vvas, that therein God and the Iſraelites might for forty years mutually prove one another. And upon triall, they appeared a peeviſh, frovvard, ſtubborn people.

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.

And whan Peter knocked at the wicket of the gate whyche was towardes the ſtreate ſyde, a lytle mayden came foorthe ſoftely to harken what the matter was. Her name was Rhoda. Whome Peter perceyuyng to come to the doore, wylled her ſpedely to open the doore. Whan ſhe heard Peters voice, beeying halfe amaſed for ſoddayn ioye, did not open the doore, but runnyng backe agayne into the houſe, broughte them woorde that Peter was at the doore. But they beeyng well aſſured howe ſafe Herode [Agrippa] had cauſed Peter to bee kepte, aunſwered to the mayden, Surely thou arte peuyſhe.

There vvas neuer any ſo peeuiſh to imagin the Moone eyther capable of affection, or ſhape of a Miſtris: […]

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, […]

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

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

Be the atturney of my loue to her. / Pleade vvhat I vvill be, not vvhat I haue bene, / Not by deſertes, but vvhat I vvill deſerue, / Vrge the neceſſitie and ſtate of times, / And be not pieuiſh, fond in great deſignes.