grouchy

US 1895. From grouch +‎ -y. Originally US college student slang.[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹaʊtʃi/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -aʊtʃi

grouchy (comparative grouchier, superlative grouchiest)

1. (originally college slang) Irritable; easily upset; angry; tending to complain. [From 1895]

   His boss gets grouchy when deadlines draw near.

   • 1911, London, Jack, chapter III, in The Abysmal Brute:

     Not that young Pat had a nasty temper, or was grouchy as his father had feared.

   • 1922, Lewis, Sinclair, chapter XXXI, in Babbitt:

     He went in to mumble that he was "sorry, didn't mean to be grouchy," and to inquire as to her interest in movies.

   • 1922, Fischer, Henry William, “Author's Preface”, in Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field:

     In Berlin I once heard Susie Clemens—ill-fated, talented girl, who died so young—say to her father: "Grouchy again! They do say that you can be funny when company is around—too bad that you don't consider Henry Fisher company."

• cranky, grumpy, tetchy; See also Thesaurus:irritable

• grouchies
• grouchily
• grouchiness
• ungrouchy

• grouch