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

The stormy petrel of the U.S. foreign service got a new job last week.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

From Time Magazine Archive

Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, 58, hawk-nosed, "gimlet-eyed" stormy petrel of the U. S. Marine Corps; of an abdominal ailment; in Philadelphia.

From Time Magazine Archive

Jim Carpenter, the stormy petrel of modern science!

From Astounding Stories of Super-Science July 1930 by Bates, Harry