Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Petulant

Petulant , adjective

[Latin petulans, -antis, prop., making slight attacks upon, from a lost dim. of petere to fall upon, to attack: compare French pétulant. See Petition.]

1.
Forward; pert; insolent; wanton. [Obsolete] — Burton
2.
Capriciously fretful; characterized by ill-natured freakishness; irritable.
Petulant moods. — Macaulay