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

In Vienna the task of Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg's new Government was not made any easier by his Minister of Interior, rough and imperious Major Emil Fey, long the stormy petrel of Austrian politics.

From Time Magazine Archive

Denver Lawyer James Gaius Watt, 42, scarcely looks like a stormy petrel.

From Time Magazine Archive

The boat went skimming over the waves as if she had been a veritable stormy petrel, sending the water churning round her bows.

From Bosom Friends A Seaside Story by Brazil, Angela