stormy petrel
Americannoun
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the British storm petrel, Hydrobates pelagicus, of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean.
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a person who causes or likes trouble or strife.
noun
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another name for storm petrel
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a person who brings or portends trouble
Etymology
Origin of stormy petrel
First recorded in 1770–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But Leon Smith, the captain, was determined to have him here, his stormy petrel capable of all sorts of heroics in the past, a good luck charm now, and a loud one.
From The Guardian • Nov. 29, 2015
Sister Elizabeth Kenny, the stormy petrel of polio, had a new complaint.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tall, curly-haired, arrogant, he has a penchant for big cigars, for calling himself "a stormy petrel."
From Time Magazine Archive
The law is called the State Defense Act and prohibits Stefan Raditch, "stormy petrel of the Balkans," leader of the Croatian autonomists, from entering into arrangements with foreign countries.
From Time Magazine Archive
Another sea-bird, very different in appearance, is the little stormy petrel.
From The Children's Book of London by Mitton, G. E. (Geraldine Edith)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
