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
The stormy petrel of the U.S. foreign service got a new job last week.
From Time Magazine Archive
The stormy petrel from Wisconsin has issued a stinging rejoinder.
From Time Magazine Archive
Like Colonel Mitchell but in different manner and degree, Rear Admiral William Sowden Sims, retired, has been a stormy petrel.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the chronicles of London pageantry, the waters look calm and bright, and no stormy petrel flaps his wing as an omen of an approaching tempest.
From London in Modern Times or, Sketches of the English Metropolis during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. by Unknown
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.
