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

William Mitchell, onetime stormy petrel of U. S. aviation.

From Time Magazine Archive

Pierre Boulez used to be the stormy petrel of contemporary music.

From Time Magazine Archive

In Vienna the task of Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg's new Government was not made any easier by his Minister of Interior, rough and imperious Major Emil Fey, long the stormy petrel of Austrian politics.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Do you know, old fellow, that that stormy petrel of the Revolution, Cluseret of the Commune, is said to be in Madrid?"

From Romantic Spain A Record of Personal Experiences (Vol. I) by O'Shea, John Augustus