1905: surly Mar 3, 2020

The word 'surly' these days means 'ill-tempered' or 'unfriendly', but it comes from something which generally denotes respect. This word came about as an alteration of 'sirly' from 'sir', but unlike the older 'lordly', even from its inception in the mid 16th century this word meant 'arrogant' or 'snobbish'.

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