Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Peevish

Peevish , adjective

[Old English pevische; of uncertain origin, perh. from a word imitative of the noise made by fretful children + -ish.]

1.
Habitually fretful; easily vexed or fretted; hard to please; apt to complain; querulous; petulant.
Her peevish babe. — Wordsworth
She is peevish, sullen, froward. — Shakespeare
2.
Expressing fretfulness and discontent, or unjustifiable dissatisfaction; as, a peevish answer.
3.
Silly; childish; trifling. [Obsolete]
To send such peevish tokens to a king. — Shakespeare