cross-grained
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See also: crossgrained
English[edit]
Adjective[edit]
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, 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, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- 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.
Translations[edit]
of timber: having an irregular rather than a parallel grain
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