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cross as a bear

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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Nearby words

  1. crosette,
  2. crosier,
  3. crosland,
  4. cross,
  5. cross a bridge when one comes to it,
  6. cross assembler,
  7. cross bedding,
  8. cross bridging,
  9. cross buck,
  10. cross colour
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.