stormy petrel
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But Leon Smith, the captain, was determined to have him here, his stormy petrel capable of all sorts of heroics in the past, a good luck charm now, and a loud one.
From The Guardian • Nov. 29, 2015
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, 58, hawk-nosed, "gimlet-eyed" stormy petrel of the U. S. Marine Corps; of an abdominal ailment; in Philadelphia.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Denver Lawyer James Gaius Watt, 42, scarcely looks like a stormy petrel.
From Time Magazine Archive
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It was argued that H. L. Mencken, stormy petrel of American criticism, has written a learned book on the subject.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Now when skies were overcast and the wind had a tooth, Bel figured in the picture as a sort of stormy petrel, forever to be seen wheeling somewhere within the vague of the horizon.
From Linda Lee, Incorporated A Novel by Vance, Louis Joseph