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

Tall, gimlet-eyed, Alabama-born J.Frank Norris, 69, rejoices in his ecclesiastical reputation as the "stormy petrel of the Southwest," and sees to it that the description keeps up-to-date.

From Time Magazine Archive

Jim Carey had been a stormy petrel in the labor movement for years.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sister Elizabeth Kenny, the stormy petrel of polio, had a new complaint.

From Time Magazine Archive

"To see on the white and crest'd wave The stormy petrel float, And then to look back On the stormy track That glitters behind our boat."

From The O'Donoghue Tale Of Ireland Fifty Years Ago by Lever, Charles James