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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

Tall, curly-haired, arrogant, he has a penchant for big cigars, for calling himself "a stormy petrel."

From Time Magazine Archive

The shabby, bright-eyed stranger who could command an audience with these famed statesmen at such an hour was none other than M. Georg Tchitcherin, famed political stormy petrel and Foreign Minister to the Soviet Union.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was a sort of stormy petrel in the town, a forerunner of danger and despair.

From William Shakespeare as he lived. An Historical Tale by Curling, Henry