Obs. nonce-wd. [A back formation from CANTANKER-OUS, like canker, cankerous.] = CANTANKEROUSNESS. So Cantankerate v., to provoke; Cantankersome a. = CANTANKEROUS (both U.S. colloq.)

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1825.  Canning, Lett., in A. G. Stapleton, Canning & Times (1859), App. iv. 609. F. is cantankerous.… He is also tricky. No man has a right to be both…. Straightforwardness is the only excuse for cantanker.

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1837–40.  Haliburton, Clockm., I. xxiv. (1862), 115. You may … cantankerate your opponents, and injure your own cause by it. Ibid., III. xii. 454 A terrible cross-grained cantankersome critter as ever I seed.

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