cross-grained

See also: crossgrained

English

cross-grained (not comparable)

(of timber) Having an irregular rather than a parallel grain.
(by extension) Difficult to deal with; contrary or troublesome.
- 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], OCLC 24531354, pages 151–152:
  It is quite wonderful to me, in such a cross-grained, hardening, and harsh world as ours, where she can have contrived to keep so much of open, fresh, and kindly feeling.
- 1913, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Poison Belt‎:
  It was my old cross-grained companion, Professor Summerlee. "What!" he cried. "Don't tell me that you have had one of these preposterous telegrams for oxygen?" I exhibited it.

of timber: having an irregular rather than a parallel grain