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

The stormy petrel from Wisconsin has issued a stinging rejoinder.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

Like Colonel Mitchell but in different manner and degree, Rear Admiral William Sowden Sims, retired, has been a stormy petrel.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Procellaria pelagica, or Storm-finch; Mother Cary's chicken, or stormy petrel.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir