colloq. [f. CROSS a. 5 + PATCH.] A cross, ill-tempered person. (Usually applied to a girl or woman; Scott makes it masculine.)
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Crosspatch, a peevish Person.
1775. Mad. D’Arblay, Early Diary, 28 Feb. ‘You little cross patch,’ cried I.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxix. ‘The keeper’s a cross-patch, and he maun hae it a’ his ain gate.’
1874. Lisle Carr, Jud. Gwynne, I. vii. 206. She ’s a nasty cross-patch.
