cross as a bear

Idioms  

1. Grumpy, ill-humored, annoyed, as in Stay away from Claire; she's cross as a bear this morning. Unlike the earlier cross as two stocks, this survives even though the adjective cross for “ill-tempered” is otherwise not used much in America. It is sometimes amplified as cross as a bear with a sore head. [Early 1700s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cross as a bear

This was all very well; but I was as cross as a bear with a sore head, notwithstanding.

From My New Curate by Sheehan, Patrick Augustine

He was as cross as a bear, but after that time his nerves would gradually become calmer and his complexion clearer.

From Brook Farm Historic and Personal Memoirs by Codman, John Thomas

The old miser, he's cross as a bear with a sore head; an' I seen Bertha with red eyes more'n a few times.

From The Boy Scouts in the Blue Ridge Marooned Among the Moonshiners by Carter, Herbert

He's as cross as a bear with a sore head at the present moment, because this young fellow who was to have been his partner has turned against him.

From Rachel Ray by Trollope, Anthony

He's as cross as a bear, baycause they wouldn't let him go to the front this morning, at the head of his regiment.

From Shenandoah Representative Plays by American Dramatists: 1856-1911 by Moses, Montrose Jonas