Both Uses
ornery
in
Their Eyes Were Watching God
(Auto-generated)
- Does feed de ornery varmint!†
p. 53.1 *ornery = easily annoyed and quick to complain and argue
- Yuh see de youngun wuz tryin' tuh make it tuh de fence uh Starks' onion patch and de mule wuz dead in behind 'im and gainin' on 'im every jump, when all of a sudden de wind changed and blowed de mule way off his course, him bein' so poor and everything, and before de ornery varmint could tack, de youngun had done got over de fence.†
p. 53.4
Definitions:
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(1)
(ornery as in: is ornery when she first wakes up) quick to get annoyed, complain, argue, and be uncooperative
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Much more rarely (and seldom any more), ornery can describe someone as "low down", coarse, or unrefined. Mark Twain often used the word in that manner as in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where he wrote: "The other fellow was about thirty, and dressed about as ornery." and "The more I studied about this the more my conscience went to grinding me, and the more wicked and low-down and ornery I got to feeling."