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

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

Like Colonel Mitchell but in different manner and degree, Rear Admiral William Sowden Sims, retired, has been a stormy petrel.

From Time Magazine Archive

Jim Carey had been a stormy petrel in the labor movement for years.

From Time Magazine Archive

Did he regard her as a sort of stormy petrel, heralding bad weather and bad fortune?

From A Gamble with Life by Hocking, Silas K. (Silas Kitto)