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

Our more frank girl, if affected in the same way, would bluntly acknowledge that she was "as cross as a bear."

From The Secret of a Happy Home (1896) by Marion Harland

I meant to do my duty by him, though he is as cross as a bear with a bruised head.

From For Woman's Love by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

"I hope it won't," answered the young lady; "the chances are you would be as cross as a bear before two days had gone past, and would want to go off in a small boat."

From In a Steamer Chair and Other Stories by Robert Barr

Therefore, to use the expressive, if not elegant, language of a schoolgirl, "He was as nervous as a witch and as cross as a bear".

From Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Why don't you throw something at me when I come to your room in the middle of the night as cross as a bear with a sore head, and begin to grumble at you?'

From Peter and Jane or The Missing Heir by S. (Sarah) Macnaughtan