mardyn.adj.

1874 Sheffield & Rotherham Independent 3 Aug. 4/1 Mard adj.—Pettish, peevish, used in speaking of children... Mardy is the corresponding substantive, a spoiled child.

1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield 144 Mardy, a spoiled child.

a1930 D. H. Lawrence Mod. Lover (1934) 277 As for Harold, he was all right. He was very respectable and a bit of a mardy, perhaps..but he was all right.

1987 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. May 9 M as in mardy ‘spoilt child’.

1968 R. Christy Nightingales are Sobbing 30 ‘You got the mulligrubs?’ I said. ‘The mulligrubs?’ she said, looking up. ‘The mulligrubs,’ I said. ‘The mardies, the mopes, the sulkies.’

1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 185/2 To have a mardy on, to be in a bad mood.

2006 N. Monaghan Killing Jar (2007) ii. 15 I pulled a right mardy when she tried to get me out the door.

2013 Leicester Mercury (Nexis) 19 Dec. 60 Toulouse stormed off the pitch in a mardy after the final whistle.

1882 Notes & Queries 23 Sept. 249/2 A crosspatchy child in Nottinghamshire is called a ‘mardy child’, in the southern counties a ‘mawdy child’.

1903 W. H. Stevenson in Eng. Dial. Dict. IV. 34/1 [Notts.] A boy who cries with pain is called by his fellows a ‘mardy baby’.

1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers vi. 127 ‘Now, Miriam,’ said Maurice, ‘you come an' 'ave a go.’ ‘No,’ she cried, shrinking back. ‘Ha! baby. The mardy-kid!’ said her brothers.

1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow i. 12 Young Tom, whom he called a mardy baby.

1959 J. Braine Vodi i. 22 ‘Don't be so bloody soft, man,’ Tom said. ‘I don't want to go.’ ‘You're mardy. You're dead mardy.’

1961 J. I. M. Stewart Man who won Pools 35 'E were a mardy one as a nipper, our Phil.

1975 D. Clark Premedicated Murder v. 83 ‘You can get all mardy about it if you like,’ said Green, unabashed.

1979 A. Sillitoe Storyteller ii. xv. 198 ‘Get some bleddy oil,’ Percy said in a mardy, rasping sort of voice, as if he was on a picnic and not at a funeral.

1995 K. Atkinson Behind Scenes at Museum (1996) iv. 138 ‘There Samuel, did tha like that? Nice cowd air to haste you to t'Maker.’ The baby made a small snuffling noise. ‘Tha'rt a mardy gowk for all tha cosseting, eh?’

2014 @JasmineChelseaa 19 Feb. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) I had 4 hours sleep last night and I'm a mardy cow right now.

1944 Mod. Lang. Rev. 39 280 In Yorkshire one hears mardy arse and mardy bum quite as often as mardy alone.

1961 A. Sillitoe Key to Door 145 Fred went on roaring and everyone turned to look. Margaret tut-tutted, as she had heard her mother do many times: ‘I'n't 'e a mardy-arse?’

1977 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Dec. 16/1 Mardy-arse, spoilt child.

1990 Sunday Correspondent 8 Apr. 18/4 Some probably feared being labelled ‘mardy arses’—Mancunian for softies.

2013 Belfast Tel. (Nexis) 29 Oct. Stop being a mardy arse and get on with it!

1944 Mod. Lang. Rev. 39 280 In this case, the term mardy bum..is thus equivalent to ‘cry-baby’.

1977 B. J. Bailey Portrait of Leics. i. 24 A child who sulks because he cannot have his own way..is liable to be greeted with a derisive chorus: Mardy bum, Play the drum, Tell yer muther The cat's come 'um!

2006 ‘Arctic Monkeys’ Mardy Bum (transcribed from song) Now then Mardy Bum I've seen your frown And it's like looking down the barrel of a gun.