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
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, 58, hawk-nosed, "gimlet-eyed" stormy petrel of the U. S. Marine Corps; of an abdominal ailment; in Philadelphia.
From Time Magazine Archive
Tall, gimlet-eyed, Alabama-born J.Frank Norris, 69, rejoices in his ecclesiastical reputation as the "stormy petrel of the Southwest," and sees to it that the description keeps up-to-date.
From Time Magazine Archive
Pierre Boulez used to be the stormy petrel of contemporary music.
From Time Magazine Archive
The pilot boat was soon unmoored and flying out to sea like a stormy petrel.
From A Noble Woman by Stephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
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.
