petulance
(ˈpɛtjʊləns)
[a. F. pétulance (1529 in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. petulāntia: see next and -ance. (In sense 2, influenced by petted, pettish, etc.)]
The fact or quality of being petulant.
1. Wanton, pert, or insolent behaviour or speech; self-assertiveness; wantonness, immodesty; sauciness, insolence; rudeness. Now rare or Obs.
| 1610 B. Jonson Masque Oberon 159 Satyrs, leave your petulance, And go frisk about and dance. 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. vi. (1701) 243/1 Behave not your self towards Greece Tyrannically or Loosely, for one argues Petulance, the other Temerity. 1728 Young Love Fame ii. 105 But time his fervent petulance may cool; For tho' he is a wit, he is no fool. 1791 Boswell Johnson an. 1738 (1816) I. 94 The Petulance with which obscure Scribblers..treat men of the most respectable character and situation. 1816 J. Gilchrist Philos. Etym. 196 To repel the petulance of hollow upstart pretension. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. x, With the petulance of youth she pursued her triumph over her prudent elder sister. |
b. A petulant or saucy expression.
| 1741 in Richardson's Pamela (ed. 2) I. Introd. 26 Naughty contains, in one single significant petulance, twenty thousand inexpressible delicacies! 1851 Carlyle Sterling ii. iii. (1872) 112 At times too he could crackle with his dexterous petulances, making the air all like needles round you. |
2. Peevish or pettish impatience of opposition or restraint; peevishness, pettishness.
| 1784 Cowper Task i. 456 The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns; The low'ring eye, the petulance, the frown. 1820 W. Irving Sk. Bk. I. 102 The same weakness of mind that indulges absurd expectations, produces petulance in disappointment. 1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. I. 251 Charles X.'s appearance was tranquil,..but the sight of a bit of tricoloured ribbon, or a slight neglect of etiquette, was enough to excite his petulance. 1876 J. Saunders Lion in Path iv, Her face wore something of a disappointed child's wistfulness and petulance. |