All 7 Uses

ornery
in
Pudd'nhead Wilson
(Auto-generated)

Blame dat man, he worries me wid dem ornery glasses o' his'n; I b'lieve he's a witch.†
Chpt 3 *

ornery = easily annoyed and quick to complain and argue
En you speck I could see him turned out po' and ornery on de worl' en never care noth'n' 'bout it?†
Chpt 8
You call me names, en as good as spit on me when I comes here, po' en ornery en 'umble, to praise you for bein' growed up so fine and handsome, en tell you how I used to nuss you en tend you en watch you when you 'uz sick en hadn't no mother but me in de whole worl', en beg you to give de po' ole nigger a dollah for to get her som'n' to eat, en you call me names—names, dad blame you!†
Chpt 8
En you ain't got no mo' feelin' den to come en tell me, dat fetched sich a po' lowdown ornery rabbit into de worl'!†
Chpt 14
My great-great-great-gran'father en yo' great-great-great-great-gran'father was Ole Cap'n John Smith, de highest blood dat Ole Virginny ever turned out, en his great-great-gran'mother, or somers along back dah, was Pocahontas de Injun queen, en her husbun' was a nigger king outen Africa—en yit here you is, a slinkin' outen a duel en disgracin' our whole line like a ornery lowdown hound!†
Chpt 14
You is de lowdownest orneriest hound dat was ever pup'd into dis worl'—en I's 'sponsible for it!†
Chpt 18
In de fust place you ain't got none to cle'r, en in de second place yo' ornery eye tole on you.†
Chpt 18

ornery = easily annoyed and quick to complain and argue

Definitions:

(1) (ornery as in: is ornery when she first wakes up)
quick to get annoyed, complain, argue, and be uncooperative
(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."