petulancen.

a1600 (?c1535) tr. H. Boece Hist. Scotl. (Mar Lodge) (1946) iii. vii. 100 In lustis and voluptuosite he rageit abone the petulance of all vther wanton gallandis [L. supra omnem petulantiam adolescentum].

1616 B. Jonson Oberon 241 in Wks. I Satyres, leaue your petulance; And goe friske about, and dance.

1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. vi. 39 Behave not your self towards Greece tyrannically or loosely, for one argues petulance, the other temerity.

1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 60 That, which look'd like Pride in some, and like Petulance in others, would..be in time wrought off, or, in a new Succession, reform'd.

1728 E. Young Love of Fame: Universal Passion (ed. 2) ii. 105 But time his fervent petulance may cool; For tho' he is a wit, he is no fool.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1738 I. 58 The petulance with which obscure scribblers..treat men of the most respectable character and situation.

1816 J. Gilchrist Philos. Etymol. 196 To repel the petulance of hollow upstart pretension.

1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian ix, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. I. 247 With the petulance of youth she pursued her triumph over her prudent elder sister.

1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits viii. 135 Of that constitutional force, which yields the supplies of the day, they have the more than enough, the excess which creates..petulance and projects in youth.

a1652 R. Brome Queenes Exchange (1657) i. i. sig. B^v Their Petulances sort not with this place.

1741 in Richardson's Pamela (ed. 2) I. Introd. 26 Naughty contains, in one single significant petulance, twenty thousand inexpressible delicacies!

1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure I. 208 And now my great pleasure lay in humouring all the petulances, all the wanton frolic of a raw novice just flesh'd.

1851 T. Carlyle Life J. Sterling ii. iii. 167 At times too he could crackle with his dexterous petulances, making the air all like needles round you.

1785 W. Cowper Task i. 456 The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns; The low'ring eye, the petulance, the frown.

1819 W. Irving Sketch Bk. ii. 105 The same weakness of mind that indulges absurd expectations, produces petulance in disappointment.

1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc Hist. Ten Years I. 251 Charles X.'s appearance was tranquil,..but the sight of a bit of tricoloured ribbon, or a slight neglect of etiquette, was enough to excite his petulance.

1876 J. Saunders Lion in Path iv Her face wore something of a disappointed child's wistfulness and petulance.

1913 W. Cather O Pioneers! iv. i. 223 ‘I'm angry with you, Emil,’ she broke out with petulance.

1931 W. Faulkner Sanctuary xviii. 163 Popeye swung back into the sandy ruts. Yet there was no flight in the action: he performed it with a certain vicious petulance, that was all.

1993 V. E. Mitchell Windows on Lost World xiii. 162 His question colored with the petulance of a very young child.

a1832 G. Crabbe Poet. Wks. (1834) III. 170 Card-club with Eagerness resorted to—Players—Umpires at the Whist Table—Petulances of Temper there discovered.

1894 G. B. Shaw Let. 6 Dec. (1965) I. 469 The point at which your petulances and protervities are clearly spoiling good business.

1927 G. B. Shaw Doctors' Delusions (1932) 135 Shallow petulances and tu quoques which have remained part of the vivisector's stock of debating points ever since.

1992 Matrix Fall 69/2 All the silly mortal petulances that keep fathers and children at war.