SURLY (surlier, surliest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: surlier    , surliest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does surly mean? 

• SURLY (adjective)
  The adjective SURLY has 1 sense:

1. inclined to anger or bad feelings with overtones of menace

  Familiarity information: SURLY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SURLY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Inclined to anger or bad feelings with overtones of menace

Synonyms:

surly; ugly

Context example:

an ugly frame of mind

Similar:

ill-natured (having an irritable and unpleasant disposition)

Derivation:

surliness (a disposition to exhibit uncontrolled anger)

 Context examples 

“You have done very well,” remarked the Brabanter in a surly voice.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Summerlee was still so weak that it was an effort for him to stand; but the old man was full of a sort of surly courage which would never admit defeat.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was surly; but the thing would not go: it stood by me with strange perseverance, and looked and spoke with a sort of authority.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It is clear from what that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves who are anxious about the matter, and I should—

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Over a door in this wall was a board with SALEM HOUSE upon it; and through a grating in this door we were surveyed when we rang the bell by a surly face, which I found, on the door being opened, belonged to a stout man with a bull-neck, a wooden leg, overhanging temples, and his hair cut close all round his head.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Perhaps it was the weight of his hand, perhaps his justice, perhaps the sheer power of him, and perhaps it was all these things that influenced White Fang; for a certain tie of attachment was forming between him and his surly lord.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

An interview with a surly gatekeeper and a surlier foreman, both of whom were appeased with the coin of the realm, put me on the track of Bloxam; he was sent for on my suggesting that I was willing to pay his day's wages to his foreman for the privilege of asking him a few questions on a private matter.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I spoke to the cook about it, when I went on deck to take up my duties in the galley, and though I had looked forward to a surly answer, I had not expected the belligerent harangue that I received.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)