ˈcross-patch colloq.
[f. cross a. 5 + patch.]
A cross, ill-tempered person. (Usually applied to a girl or woman; Scott makes it masculine.)
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Crosspatch, a peevish Person. 1775 F. Burney Early Diary 28 Feb., ‘You little cross patch’, cried I. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxix, ‘The keeper's a cross-patch, and he maun hae it a' his ain gate.’ 1874 L. Carr Jud. Gwynne I. vii. 206 She's a nasty cross-patch. |