crossness
English
Etymology
cross + -ness
Noun
crossness (countable and uncountable, plural crossnesses)
- the state of being cross; mild anger
- 1863, Dinah Maria Craik, Mistress and maid:
- Elizabeth […] wished he were beside her, and was so glad to think he would soon be beside her always, with all his humours and weaknesses, all his little crossnesses and complainings […]
- 1967, Sleigh, Barbara, Jessamy, 1993 edition, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 122:
- At any other time Jessamy would have laughed at the expressions that chased each other over his freckled face: crossness left over from his struggle with the baby; incredulity; distress; and finally delight.
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