petulantlyadv.

1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God i. i. 2 Those..most petulantly [L. petulanter] insulting ouer Christs seruants.

1671 R. Head & F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue IV. 217 Finding them too petulantly familiar with my Mistress, I had once a mind to have staved the Bottle, but that I should loose my share of the Brandy.

1717 T. Parnell Homer's Battle Frogs & Mice ii, in Poems Several Occasions (1722) 88 My flow'ry Wreaths they petulantly spoil, And rob my chrystal Lamps of feeding Oil.

1777 H. L. Piozzi Diary Sept.–Nov. in K. C. Balderston Thraliana (1942) I. 166 Fitzmaurice..observed that Mr. Pottinger opposed him so petulantly for no better Reason than that he might the next Day tell his Friends at the Club how he had had the Honor of disputing with Johnson.

1838 R. W. Emerson Milton in Wks. (1906) III. 300 Johnson petulantly taunts Milton with ‘great promise and small performance’.

1881 W. Collins Black Robe ii I am sorry I spoke so petulantly and so unfairly.

1914 J. M. Barrie Admirable Crichton iii. 162 She holds back petulantly, and even when she does come..it is less obediently than like a naughty, sulky child.

1992 R. MacNeil Burden of Desire iv. 395 ‘Mummy forgets everything!’ Abigail said petulantly.